


Welcome to Shangri-Paw

by amythis



Series: ZTA [1]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Puns & Word Play, pop cultural references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-05-28 12:30:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 43,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6329191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythis/pseuds/amythis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy and Nick explore the meanings of family, friendship, love, berries, and burials.  The story is Teen-rated for the first twelve chapters and then includes some Mature and Explicit chapters as well as Teen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Stop: Zootopia Police Academy

Judy was sitting in her small but no longer quite so bleak apartment, after a long day of patrolling the City, when the phone rang. Her first thought was that it was Nick, and then she remembered when she said goodbye to him at the train station a few weeks before. They'd joked about how he would only be allowed one phone call and then he said, "Of course I'll have to call the lady who changed my life, who made me what I am. My mother." And then Judy had lightly punched his arm.

She picked up her phone but didn't recognize the caller. Nonetheless, she answered, because she was a police officer again and she had a duty to Zootopia, even in her off hours. "Hello?"

"Officer Hopps?"

"Yes?"

"This is Sgt. Theda Beara."

"Oh, yes, of course." She now recognized the voice of the drill sergeant who had trained her at the Police Academy.

"I'd like to talk to you about one of our new recruits, your friend, Nicholas Wilde."

Oh, no, what had Nick done? She'd thought that she really had changed his life. He would still be snarky and sneaky, but on the side of good, as when he'd helped her solve the missing mammals case. "Nick?" she whispered. 

"Yes, I've never seen anyone like him." 

Oh, no, oh, no! If only he had called her, she could've talked him out of whatever he'd done to screw up his chance to be a police officer. "You haven't?" 

"No. He's sly and sarcastic. And he drives me up the wall. I think he's going to be a wonderful addition to the force." 

"I'm really sorry. If you just got to know Nick, you would— What did you say?" 

"I can just imagine what he'll be like when he's unleashed on criminals." 

"Well, yes." 

"I also wanted to ask if you'd be willing to be the guest speaker at the class graduation this weekend." 

"Oh, I'd be honored!" She was still relatively new herself, and although she had cracked a big case, she'd made a lot of mistakes along the way, and not just typical rookie mistakes, but errors that had almost ripped their society apart. She was tempted to refuse the honor, but maybe in her speech she could talk about some of the challenges, yet in an upbeat way. And she still thought of herself as more of a tryer than a quitter.

"Good." The polar bear gave her the rest of the details and said that she would arrange with Chief Bogo for her to have the time off.

After Judy hung up, she was unable to sleep, despite how tired she was. She wanted to call Nick, but of course she couldn't. He was still in training, and she probably couldn't contact him unless it was an emergency. Well, maybe it would be a nice surprise for him, unless the guest speaker was announced in advance.

She also thought about calling her parents but they were still trying to get used to her having returned to her risky profession. They knew she hadn't been happy when she went back to the family farm. Her ears and her spirit had drooped. But she knew they also hoped she could find a career that wasn't as dangerous as being a cop. They were proud of her, but worried.

"Hey, way to go, Hopps!"

"You don't even know what she's honored about!"

"Does it bother you when I'm happy for other people?"

She did her best to ignore her bickering neighbors, the Oryx-Antlersons, even when they were arguing about her. She lay in bed, trying to think about what she wanted to say in her speech, but she couldn't help also thinking about how she would get to see Nick a few days earlier than expected. Despite a very rocky start, he was now her best friend. She had missed him when she had thoughtlessly said something anti-predator and alienated him. This was a different kind of missing him, thinking of good times they'd had and good times to come. She really hoped that he would be her partner, but that would be up to Chief Bogo of course.

...

"...Life's a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you...."

The crowd applauded and Judy beamed, but not as much as she did when Nick stood before her and she pinned on his badge. She wanted to give him a big hug but that would be unprofessional. Besides, there were the other new recruits she had to recognize. So she and Nick saluted each other and she moved down the list of graduates.

Later, when the recruits and guests were milling around, they had a couple minutes to talk.

"So did you like my speech?"

"Well, it was far from the worst I've heard you give."

"Uh, thanks." She would never live down the "biological component" speech.

"Relax, Fluff, you were great."

Judy had never really liked nicknames. Even her father calling her "Jude the Dude" was somewhat annoying, although the fact that he had come up with nicknames for all 276 of his kids was impressive. But she loved her dad and she was used to it. When Nick first started calling her "Fluff," "Carrots," and the rest, it had been condescending, but now it was more like, well, sort of like a big brother teasing her. Sort of. She did have brothers who were close to the height of the fox, and Nick was older than her by eight years. But she couldn't exactly think of him as a brother. She hadn't quite sorted out what she thought of him, other than she was fonder of him than she ever could've imagined being of a predator.

"Thank you," she said after too long a pause.

"So, Carrots, what are you doing the rest of the weekend?"

"Oh, I have to go visit my parents."

"Have to?"

"Well, when they heard I was giving the speech at the academy, they said it's half way 'home.' " The Police Academy was roughly one hundred miles from both Bunnyburrow and the City, on the Yellow Line of the Zootopia Transit Authority (ZTA).

"Ah, right."

"Uh, did your folks come?" Judy craned her head, trying to see past the taller mammals, to spot any middle-aged foxes in the crowd.

"Uh, no." Nick didn't talk much about his family. He'd told her of his mom scrimping and saving for his Scout uniform. He never mentioned his dad. "We can talk about that some other time."

"OK." She sensed it was a delicate subject. She thought of how her family had always been a very strong presence in her life, until she moved to the City. And then she had a sudden thought. Maybe she should invite Nick home to meet her family. After all, he was free to leave the campus now that he'd graduated, and it might do him good to have some home-cooking. She knew he loved the blueberries they grew. Or would the experience be overwhelming? So many rabbits all at once. 

She also had to consider that although her parents weren't as prejudiced as they used to be, having even befriended reformed bully Gideon Gray, it might be strange for her to introduce Nick as her best friend. She knew that she shouldn't think that way but she couldn't help it.

Before she could think of how to ask, or even decide if she wanted to ask, some of the other recruits came over and complimented her speech. Nick melted into the crowd. He was good at that.


	2. Next Stop: Savannna Central

As Nick rode the Yellow Line back to the City, he couldn't help thinking about the bunny heading in the opposite direction. Well, one particular bunny among the hundreds on board the southbound train. After all, this was the Bunnyburrow route. He'd never been to the Tri-burrows. He'd always thought of it as Hicksville. But he kind of wished that Judy had invited him to catch the train with her.

Oh, he knew, who knew better, the shock and terror, or at least discomfort that would descend on a family of rabbits if a fox were to pay a social call. But he wanted to see where it all began for his best friend. The place she'd escaped from, the place she'd escaped to.

The invitation hadn't come. But that was all right. Maybe Nick wasn't ready to "meet the parents," even in a platonic relationship. After all, Judy's parents were pretty protective of her and even if he hadn't been a predator, he was still a big city guy. And of course he was a predator, and he had a sneaking suspicion where she got ahold of the "Fox Away" spray.

Well, he had better things to do with his weekend than spend it in Cow Country. For one thing, he had to look for a new place to live. Under the bridge wasn't exactly the best address, especially for an officer of the law. He wondered if there might be a vacancy in Judy's building. Or should he try to get a little distance? After all, if she got her wish, they'd be partners on the squad. Working and living together might be too much. Maybe he'd wait till he could talk to her about it. It'd been a long time since he'd had a friend this close, and it was hard for him to keep it all balanced. He knew everyone in Zootopia and was friends with a few, but he never had opened up to even Flash or Finnick the way he'd opened up to Judy. Maybe it was that she was female, or maybe it was just that bunnies being so emotional made it harder to keep his own emotions neatly hidden like he'd learned to long ago.

As the northbound train crossed the water and hit Sahara Square, he thought about how Judy must've seen this a couple months ago. She would be gazing out the window with her wide, shiny purple eyes. Everything would be new and exciting to her, because she'd never have been to the Big City before, except maybe on a school field trip or two. She'd probably barely been off the farm until she was accepted by the academy.

Well, Nick had hardly been out of the City till he was accepted by the academy. He was born and raised Downtown, not far from the Troop Street stop on the Inner Loop of the ZTA. It had definitely been an adjustment to get out into the wide open spaces, but then it was also sort of like being home, since there were the practice areas for Tundratown and the other districts. He'd adapted quickly, but then he almost always had. He was smaller than most of the other recruits— poor Carrots must've really felt tiny— but he knew how to use that to his advantage. And he'd ended up top of his class.

When he heard that Judy was the guest speaker, he had to hide his joy. He didn't want the other recruits teasing him about "his girlfriend" coming to see him. A bunch of guys and gals in their 20s and 30s, but they might as well have been in junior high. Never mind that he and Judy were of two very different, very incompatible species. They could never be a couple, no matter how zootopian the world became. Animals see a male and a female who are close friends, and they assume things. If it would be a taboo relationship, that hardly ends the speculation.

He'd just been glad that she would be there on his big day. He wanted her to be proud of him. And he was proud of her for getting to make the speech. That was all.

He imagined how exotic the desert of Sahara Square must've looked to Judy the first time, so different than her lush, green home in the 'Burrows.

And then came Tundratown. Did it snow on her farm? Well, not like this he was sure. He remembered the dangers they'd faced in this sector, although they'd also gotten some very valuable clues.

The train didn't linger in Meadowlands, since there was only one stop on the Yellow Line. Sheep, the main residents, were not big travelers, although some had obviously made it to Downtown, Bellwether unfortunately among them.

And then the Rainforest District. Talk about lush! So beautiful, but sometimes as dangerous as Tundratown.

The Yellow Line skipped the Canal District for the most part. You had to switch to the Green Line, and you couldn't even do that from the Yellow Line. You'd have to switch to the Pink Line, the Zootopia Loop. It was like they didn't want anyone to go there, but then most mammals didn't. Nick had been there a couple times, but he hadn't thought about it in a long while.

The Rainforest though. Lots of memories, including recent ones. That was where he and Judy had truly become friends. He'd been blackmailed into helping her. That cute little metermaid was sneakier than he ever could've imagined a rabbit could be. She was no dumb bunny. But it wasn't until he had the chance to escape and didn't, and then she saved his life, that something changed. And when Chief Bogo tried to kick her off the force, Nick had to point out how unfair this was, and that she still had ten hours left to solve the missing mammals case. They had ten hours left.

It wasn't long after that that he shared his most painful memory with her. Well, one of them.

He wanted to tell her more about his life. He trusted her enough now. And she was his best friend.

"Hey, Wilde-man, where's your bit of fluff?"

Oh, no, not him. Some stereotypes are based on truth, in that some mammals do happen to fit them to a T. Nick was sly. The sloths at the DMV were slow. And Boaris Pigley was a pig. For one thing, the stains on his shirt indicated that he had spent most of the train ride in the dining car. And for another, while some of the cadets at the academy had teased Nick good-naturedly and harmlessly about Judy, Boaris was a little crude about it.

Nick brushed his own slacks with his paws, as if trying to remove lint.

"No, you know. The bunny with the cute little fluffy tail."

Nick knew he had said similar things to Judy but they sounded much worse coming from Boaris. But he also knew that it was pointless to ask Pigley to speak respectfully of another officer. "Uh, she's visiting her folks."

"And she didn't invite you along? Is she ashamed of you?"

This wasn't far from what Nick had been thinking himself, so he said, "No, I had other plans."

"Yeah? You got another dame in the City?"

"A gentleman doesn't discuss these things."

"You and me ain't gentlemen."

"Speak for yourself, Pigley."

Pigley guffawed. "Yeah, right. Foxes are real classy."

Nick had to remember that they might be working together and he didn't want to say or do anything he'd regret. And then his phone buzzed. "Excuse me, Pigley."

"One of your chicks?"

"No, I don't date birds."

Nick exited the observation car while Boaris still looked confused, then he frowned as he heard Boaris call after him, "Well, I guess you have to draw the line somewhere!" Then he smiled as he saw he had a text from Judy: "Hey, Nick, if you meet me at the Sav Cent station tomorrow at 4 p.m., I'll have a little surprise for you."

He texted back, "OK." He could've bantered about the surprise, but that was hard to do in text, hard to know how his tone would come across. And he wasn't sure what her tone was.

He did his best to avoid Pigley the rest of the ride and then at the Savanna Central station. Luckily, he was good at melting into crowds.

... 

"So where's the surprise?"

"Close your eyes."

He had a moment of thinking she was going to give him a kiss, but why would Judy kiss him? Besides, she'd have to stand on something to reach his mouth without cooperation.

"Hold out your paws."

"OK." So now he was standing there with his eyes closed and his paws out. Then he felt something kind of like smooth metal in his palms, but with something warm inside.

"Open your eyes, Nick."

He did and saw her beaming at him. And then he looked down. "A pie? You baked a pie for me?" No one had ever done that for him since his mother years ago.

"Well, no."

"Your mom baked a pie for me?" Had she told her folks about him? Maybe they were more accepting of his friendship with Judy than he'd thought. Or maybe she hadn't happened to mention he was a fox.

"Well, no, it's from Gideon Gray."

"Gideon who?"

"Gideon Gray. He's, well, a friend of the family." Why did Judy suddenly look self-conscious? Was this some old boyfriend of hers? Nick could picture him. Gray fur, distinguished, a little old-fashioned, probably didn't want Judy to move to the Big City.

"I see."

"His pies are really good. And this is blueberry! Dig in."

"In the middle of a train station?"

"Well, I guess we could find someplace less crowded to eat."

"Oh, are you having some, too?"

"Well, I'm not the berry addict you are but, yeah, I like blueberries."

"I thought this pie was just for me."

"You're not going to share?" She did the big eyes and the drooping ears. He knew it was a con but he didn't hold that against her.

"Oh, all right."

"Thanks!" She managed to give him a quick hug without getting pie on either of them.

"So where should we go?"

"Um, my place. It's not far."

Nick's own eyes went wide.


	3. Third Stop: The Grand Pangolin Apartments

"You like that, Nick?"

"Mmm, that's good!"

"Really?"

"The best I've ever had. You like it?"

"Mm hm. So sweet and yummy!"

"Hey, get a room, you two!"

"Well, technically they have one."

"Uh, I didn't realize we had an audience."

"Nick, meet Bucky and Pronk Oryx-Antlerson."

Nick leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "Are they—?"

"Um, I'm not sure."

"No, we're not stepbrothers," came promptly from the wall.

"Ah."

Judy tried not to giggle. "Did you want any more?"

Nick patted his stomach with a blue-stained red paw. "Not right now."

"OK, I'll put it in the fridge." She got out of bed and headed towards her mini-refrigerator. Nick was sitting in her desk chair. Judy had fixed the place up in the past few weeks, but she wasn't able to fit any more furniture in there.

Then she heard a knock. "Miss Judy, do you have a fox in your room?"

"Should I hide?" Nick mouthed, making her really want to giggle, since there was nowhere to hide.

She shook her head and handed him the pie plate. Then she went to the door and opened it to her landlady, Dharma Illo. "Yes, I do," she said, since it was pointless to deny it.

"Good," said the nine-banded armadillo. "There's a vacancy next door and I'm looking for a tenant on the small side."

"Well, I guess I'm on the small side," said Nick.

"Compared to us, you're a peewee," said Bucky.

"Yeah, but he's bigger than the rabbit," said Pronk.

"Please wash the berry stains off your paws before viewing the apartment."

"Of course." Nick handed the pie plate back to Judy and went over to the sink, while Mrs. Illo looked through her set of keys.

Judy felt like they should discuss this first. On the one hand, she knew Nick needed a place to live, someplace near the police station. And it'd be great to have him close by. But on the other hand, these walls were obviously very thin and she wasn't sure she wanted him quite that close by.

"Ready?" Mrs. Illo asked, as Nick dried his paws on the guest towel.

"Yeah. Back in a minute, Hopps."

"OK." Judy put the pie in the fridge and then sat down on her bed again.

"I'm surprised they don't get a place together," said Bucky after Nick and Mrs. Illo left.

"They'd probably fight all the time if they did," said Pronk.

Judy hoped Nick couldn't hear them. His visit to her apartment was completely innocent but she was starting to realize that it might not look, or sound, that way to others. Never mind that it was still, even in the City, unusual for predator and prey to be friends. Being more than friends was, while not forbidden, certainly not encouraged. Not that she thought of Nick that way of course, but he was male and she was female, and some mammals might make assumptions about them.

She could hear the transaction in the other neighboring apartment. Nick liked the place, which she imagined as much like hers. (She'd never seen the Oryx-Antlersons' unit, but it had to be larger, since there were two of them and they were so tall.) But he was only going to rent for a month, to see how he liked "the commute and everything." Mrs. Illo still asked for first and last month's rent, plus deposit. Nick had that much on him, to Judy's surprise. She could never figure out Nick's financial situation, despite having threatened him with a tax audit. Did he always carry that much cash, or had he been planning to rent someplace on the spot that day?

Nick popped his head in and said, "I'll be back in an hour with my stuff."

"Do you need any help moving?"

"Nah, Carrots, I travel light."

She nodded. After he left, she shut the door and noticed that her own paws were stained blue, so she got the paw sanitizer. Then she thought some more about Nick being her neighbor. Maybe it would be OK. It might be fun, going to work together, coming home together. And it wouldn't be like really living together. If they had a fight, which seemed likely with them, they would have their separate spaces and they wouldn't have to look at each other. Well, not till the next day at work.

She still wished they'd talked about it, but maybe it was one of those things you have to try before you know whether you'll like it. And it wasn't like she had any strong objections. She thought about how much she'd missed him. Yes, it would be good to see him every day.

An hour later she heard a tap on the wall opposite the Oryx-Antlersons' wall. "Hey, Judy, you wanna come over to my apartment-warming?"

She smiled although he couldn't see it. "Sure." She decided to reheat the pie in the microwave, since she didn't have any other gift on hand.

She grinned when he answered the door, holding a carrot cake in his other paw. "Aw, Nick, you shouldn't have."

"Well, I figured it'd mean more pie for me."

"Thank you. I'm assuming you didn't bake the cake."

"No, I'm afraid I'm not the baker your old boyfriend is."

"What old boyfriend?"

"Gideon Gray."

She laughed. "Gideon's not my boyfriend! He's a fox!"

"Oh, how foolish of me."

She blushed a little. "Nick, I didn't mean—"

"Come on in before the baked goods get cold."

His apartment was the same size and layout as hers. She hoped it wouldn't be too cramped for him. Maybe that was why he wasn't committing to more than a month. Or maybe he wasn't so sure about his next-door neighbor.

They exchanged cake and pie and then he sat on the bed, so she sat in the desk chair. "Nick, I need to explain about Gideon."

"No need to apologize. I know dating a fox would be beneath you."

"Oh, Nick, don't be stupid! I just meant— Well, Gideon is why I had the Fox Away. Sort of."

"You thought you'd be running into him in the Big City?"

"No, Nick. Look, when you asked if I was scared of you, I was at that moment. You reminded me of Gideon when we were kids. He was a bully who stole from my friends." (Her little sister Pammy, her classmate Sharla, and Sharla's kid brother Gareth.)

"Go on."

"I tried to stand up to him and he scratched my face and knocked me to the ground. But I got back what he stole."

"I see."

"Nick, I know you're not like that, but right then I remembered how little and helpless I felt. I don't like feeling like that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. But you should've told me."

"You didn't give me a chance. And I'd already put my foot in my mouth."

"And rabbit's feet are supposed to be lucky."

She rolled her eyes.

"I thought your parents gave you the Fox Away."

"They did but I carried it because I had these old fears."

He nodded. "I understand. But you see, because of what a few bad foxes do, other animals think we're all like that. And that's why I got muzzled."

"I know." She shook her head. "Childhood traumas. Well, yours is much worse than mine."

"Yours is bad enough."

"Well."

"Are you going to feel safe living next to a predator?"

"Come on, Nick. You're my best friend."

"And you're mine," he said quietly, the defensiveness gone.

She smiled. "Is that why you wanted to live next to me?"

"Nah, I just figured that it would save me buying an alarm clock, since I could hear yours through the wall."

She shook her head and ate some carrot cake.


	4. Fourth Stop: Zootopia Police Station

_"You know you love me."_

 _"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."_

"Nick, what are you grinning about?"  


"Nothing, Fluff," he said and straightened his sunglasses. He continued striding into the police station, or as well as he could stride with a sloth in pawcuffs.

"Nick....I...."

"None of your fast-talking, Flash."

"O. M. goodness!" exclaimed the receptionist, Benjamin Clawhauser.

"Yes, we caught the street-racer," Judy said, trying to be sound modest.

"Cool, but guess what I did?"

"Ate a dozen donuts in one sitting?" Nick guessed.

Judy gave him a scolding look.

"Well, yeah, but what's really amazing is I just won four tickets to see the Gazelle concert tomorrow night!"

Judy smiled at Clawhauser. "Oh, that's great!"

"And they say cheetahs never prosper," Nick said just loudly enough for Judy to hear, and she looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or wince.

"You know what's even better? You two are going to be my guests!"

"Really?" Judy's ears went straight up.

"Gee, that's swell, but we've got to book a dangerous criminal right now, so if you'll excuse us?"

"Oh, yeah, totally."

Once they got out of Clawhauser's hearing, Judy said, "Nick, that wasn't very nice."

"Tell me about it. Two hours of listening to Gazelle? I'd rather be muzzled."

"What do...you have...against...?"

"What's wrong with Gazelle?" Judy asked impatiently.

"Look, she's a good dancer, good singer, but I am so sick of hearing that one song over and over again."

"I messed...."

"Yeah, thanks, Flash."

"I think it's kind of catchy."

"Sure, the first hundred times it was catchy, but now? I feel like I'm trapped in _The Pogo Movie_."

" _The Pogo Movie_?"

"Yeah, you know." Nick sang, "Everything is possum!"

"Everything...is cool...."

Nick decided to ignore Flash this time.

"I'm sure that Gazelle will be singing other songs. She's had three platinum albums."

"You really want to go, don't you, Fluff?"

"Yes." She did the big eyes on him.

"Well, have fun."

"Nick...if you...don't want...to go...maybe I...."

"Flash, you're going to be in jail tomorrow night."

"Not if...I...get out...with a...fine...and...."

"And a warning?" Judy suggested.

"And I...could take...Priscilla."

"Oh, are you and Priscilla an item?" Judy was definitely a female in some ways.

"Well...."

"Carrots, I don't think we have time for Flash to answer that."

"So, Hopps, Wilde, where's this speed demon you said you captured?"

Chief Bogo had appeared in the hallway and was looming over them.

"You're looking...."

"I'm looking at him? I don't believe this."

"Well...Chief."

"I'm looking well? Or, do you mean, 'Well, Chief'?"

"I meant...."

"I don't have time for this."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of it, Sir," Nick said. "Why don't you go talk to Clawhauser? He's got another surprise for you."

Bogo sighed and shook his head but headed for the receptionist's desk.

"Oh, Nick, how did you know that Chief Bogo is a Gazelle fan?"

"He is?" That was the last thing that Nick expected. He'd just said that to irritate their boss.

"Yes, Clawhauser says they have the same dancing app. You know, the one with the tiger back-up dancer and the—"

"Oh, good grief, I forgot about the back-up dancers! This is going to be an evening I'll never forget."

Judy's face lit up. "Then you'll go?"

Nick sighed. "Yeah, if I could live through basic training, I guess I can live through a Gazelle concert."

Judy looked like she wanted to give him a big hug but then she remembered they still had to deal with their suspect. "Flash, come with us."

"Jail?"

"No, we'll do the fine. So you and Priscilla can go, but you'll have to get your own tickets."

"Well, it looks like everyone will be there."

"Yeah, Nick, now you can't miss it."

He shook his head but he didn't raise any more objections. He still reserved the right to complain at the concert though, if anyone could hear him.

...

_"You know you love me."_

_"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."_

As Nick put his uniform in his locker at the end of his first day, he remembered the exchange in the police car again. He'd been teasing her about her driving, so she hit the brakes. And then he said that. He meant it like, well, like love like a friend. Like even though they got on each other's nerves, they'd rather be annoyed than live without each other.

But he couldn't go around saying, "I love you anyway," or anything like that. Especially not after his mistake about Gideon Gray. She'd made it pretty clear that she would never date a fox, that the idea was unthinkable to her. Not that he wanted to date her but if he did, well, he'd have to rule it out.

He had wondered if she'd get flustered and say something like, "Nick, I'm very sorry, but I don't feel that way about you!" But he'd taught her how to answer questions with questions, even when the first question wasn't phrased as a question.

Did she know that? Yes. Yes, she did. So she loved him, the way he loved her. That was nice. He'd never had a female love him in quite that way. Like a kid sister, sort of. Well, not really, but yeah.

Nick was an only cub. For a long time, it was just him and his mom. And then it was just him.

And now it was sort of him and Judy. Partners in a different way than him and Finnick. And neighbors, too. It should be fun hanging out with her, when they weren't running around trying to solve crimes, although that part was fun, too. And he had an end unit, so no neighbors on the other side, unlike Judy with the Antler Boys. There should be enough privacy to tell her some of the things he'd been wanting to, like about his parents.

He hoped she could understand. Her family was so close-knit. And her parents obviously got along great, if 276 offspring meant anything. While his parents—

"Hey, Wilde-man!"

Great, Pigley. "Hey."

"Guess who's got the night shift?"

It figured. Nick was the nocturnal animal and he got the day shift. But then if he had the night shift, he couldn't work with Judy. He couldn't share a chair with her at morning roll call or drive around in their cool police cruiser. (Much better than her Metermaidmobile.) And they couldn't catch the bad guys together. OK, Flash wasn't bad, just reckless. Nick went along with giving him a fine not just because Flash was his friend but because jail didn't seem appropriate. Whether or not it enabled Flash to get together with Priscilla wasn't really a concern of Nick's, although Judy had been full of advice.

_"Put her ticket in a box of candy! No, a bouquet!"_

_"What about...in a...?"_

"Me! I've got the night shift!"

"Congratulations, Pigley."

"So, are you on parking duty?"

"Uh, not quite."

"Well, I just figured you're 'partners' with the metermaid, right?"

"Yeah, right." It wasn't worth explaining. "Have a good night, Pigley."

"You, too, Wilde," Boaris said with a wink.

Nick didn't even want to think about what Pigley would say if he knew that Nick was living next door to Judy, with only a thin wall separating them.

When he left the locker room, Judy was waiting for him, still in uniform. "Aw, Nick, you changed!" She sounded disappointed.

"But you never do, Fluff," he said, tweaking one of her ears.

She couldn't reach his ears, so she pulled his tie.

"Are you dragging me home?"

"Yeah, it's been a long day."


	5. Fifth Stop: Oasis Hotel

It really did feel like everyone was at the concert. Well, not Bellwether and Lionheart, who were in jail. But just about everyone Judy had met in the City was on the grounds of the Oasis Hotel. She waved at Fru Fru, who was dancing with her father, Mr. Big.

Judy had decided not to mention to Chief Bogo her recent interactions with the most feared crime boss in Tundratown. Mr. Big had given them some valuable information and, well, threatened to ice someone for them. So Judy didn't think the chief would approve. The Bigs had been kind to her, and she was honored to be a godmother to Little Judy. (Shrew pregnancies last only two weeks and it looked like Fru Fru had become pregnant again almost immediately.)

The Chief either didn't notice Mr. Big or had decided to ignore him. Bogo looked like he was having a good time. Clawhauser was of course in furvana.

Judy looked over at Nick, who had finally uncrossed his arms. Well, that was progress. She was glad he'd come along. Everything was more fun with him, even when he was trying to be a wet blanket.

She started dancing, maybe not as much as Clawhauser and Bogo but it was hard not to want to start moving. She bounced off Nick, who tried to ignore her.

"Oh, great, here it comes," Nick muttered when Gazelle, and hundreds of her fans, started singing, "I messed up tonight."

"You know you love this song."

"Do I know that?" But he didn't answer his own question.

Judy got really into dancing, swept away by the music and the excitement of the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Nick doing a few little moves. Maybe he was doing them sarcastically, but that was OK.

When the last "Try everything" faded out and the applause swelled, Chief Bogo pushed his way through the crowd, towards them. He did not look happy. Judy hoped this wasn't about Mr. Big.

Clawhauser was following reluctantly and when the chief signaled that they were to follow, she and Nick looked at each other and shrugged. The cape buffalo led them out to the parking lot, where it was relatively quiet.

"What's up, Chief?" Judy asked.

"A report just came in."

"Oo, a case?"

"No, a surf report." Bogo could be as sarcastic as Nick sometimes.

"Well, it is water-related." Clawhauser frowned. "A drowning."

"So now we're lifeguards?" Nick said.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I want you and Hopps to head to the Canal District by dawn and get on this."

"Excuse me, Sir, but if someone's already drowned, why the hurry?"

"This is big, Hopps. Or at least I think it is. The District Manager claims these are just accidents, but I'm not so sure anymore."

"These? As in more than one?"

"Yes, Wilde. A higher than usual number of drownings. I think we need to investigate."

"But why us?"

"You can swim, can't you, Wilde?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Yes, we both can, but why the all the hur—?"

"I was going to assign Francine, but she's about to go on maternity leave. For two years."

"O M goodness! I think baby elephants are the cutest things ever! Well, except for baby bunnies. Oh, no offense, Judy."

"None taken."

"I'm offended that you don't think fox cubs are cute."

"Oh, they're cute but they don't have big floppy ears."

"Can we get back to the case?"

"Sorry, Chief," the three of them said.

"Clawhauser, I need you to go back to the station and pull up the file on the Canal District drownings."

"Now?"

"Time is of the essence."

The cheetah cast a longing glance back at the arena but then he looked at Chief Bogo. "Yes, Sir."

"Hopps and Wilde, go home, pack, meet us at the station in an hour."

"Which station?" Nick asked.

"The police station of course."

"Well, if time is of the essence, shouldn't we head to the train station? Probably Savanna Central, so we can take the Pink Line to the Green Line."

"Good thinking, Wilde. I knew there was a reason why I chose you."

Judy wanted to make a lot of objections, including that she didn't see why this couldn't wait till morning. At the least, couldn't they hear the rest of the concert? But she was afraid Bogo would take her off the case, and she didn't want Nick solving it without her.

"Hopps, I know you've got a lot of questions, but some of them will be answered in the file."

She nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome. Come on, let's catch the, um—"

"Well, the Yellow Line would take you two closest to the police station and us closest to our apartment building—"

"Wait a second, you two are living together?"

"Clawhauser, not now."

"Sorry, Chief."

"But the fastest route would be to take the Oasis Loop, or Light Green Line, from here to Agave Avenue, then transfer to the Purple Line, otherwise known as the Inner Loop. That will get us Downtown and then Judy and I can catch a cab. Which I assume you'll pay for, right, Chief?"

"Right," Bogo muttered.

"Wait, what route are the Chief and I taking?"

Nick took out his phone and pulled up the ZTA map. Judy was amazed that he seemed to carry a copy of it in his head. She knew the districts and some of the streets in them, but Nick seemed to know everywhere as well as everyone in Zootopia. It would be handy to have him in the Canal District, a place she'd never been to and knew little about.

As they all caught the Light Green Line, Bogo said, "Sorry to pull you three away from the concert," acting as if he hadn't been enjoying it as much as anyone.

"It's OK, Chief. Business before pleasure," Nick said.

"Yeah, crime doesn't sleep. Besides, I've got Gazelle's whole playlist on my iPawd." And Clawhauser proceeded to prove it.

Judy tried not to laugh, especially when she looked at Nick's facial expressions. Then she sobered up, thinking about the case. Drownings, that was big. Yes, they'd solved the missing mammals case, but Bogo had definitely not chosen them for that. It was possible that whoever had drowned had done so accidentally, but there must've been something suspicious about the circumstances. Either way, she and Nick would have to figure out what was going on. She was eager for the challenge, and Nick was being surprisingly cooperative. But then anything beat parking duty, and traffic duty wasn't much better.

"OK, this is everyone's stop," the chief said. "Hopps, Wilde, meet us at the police station ASAP."

"Yes, Sir!" Judy said saluting. She gave Nick a look, so he imitated her, not too sarcastically.

Bogo shook his head and then gestured for Clawhauser to follow him.

"How much you want to bet Bogo just wants us out of his fur for awhile?"

She wasn't sure if Nick was joking this time. And then he hailed a taxi and she started thinking about what she needed to pack.


	6. Sixth Stop: Orchid Drive

"Nick, what are you doing?"

He turned and sighed. "It's three o'clock in the morning, Fluff. In the Canal District. I don't think you want to stay in the kind of hotel that would take a mixed couple at this time of night."

She blushed a little. "We're not a couple."

"Well, that's not how it's going to look, Sweetheart." He hoped he wouldn't have to be any blunter than that. Now that he was back at the Canals, he remembered that it was a place for underground activity, which included unconventional liaisons. You know, what happens in the Canal District, stays in the Canal District. Their relationship, and Judy herself, were completely innocent, but there was only one reason that a male fox would take a female bunny to a hotel in this district after midnight and before dawn.

"I see," she said quietly.

"Good. And since I don't feel like lugging my suitcase around till a more respectable kind of hotel will let us check in, I'm stowing it here and I suggest you do the same."

"But a train station locker, Nick? Will they be safe?"

"Safer than on us."

She looked like she was going to argue but then she gave in. "OK. We can probably cover more ground without them."

"Oh, are we investigating tonight?"

"Nick, you read the file. You know why we had to get here before dawn."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know. OK, get your carrot pen ready just in case a perp confesses."

"I don't think it'll go quite that fast," she said, but she nonetheless took her pen out her pocket after throwing her little suitcase in the locker.

Nick's own suitcase was small. He did try to travel light. Of course, he had no idea how long this case was going to take to crack. He had the feeling that it would not be a fast-paced, 48-hours-max kind of case. This was more the kind of case where they'd skulk around the docks, looking for clues, getting reluctant answers out of shady characters. He locked up the locker and pocketed the key. "OK, let's review the file."

They started walking through the almost deserted train station as she opened the paper file. For all of the ZPD's embrace of technology, they had this thing about manila envelopes and printed (sometimes even typed on a typewriter) documents. Clawhauser said it was for security reasons, but it wasn't as if paper couldn't be scanned and uploaded.

This wasn't as skinny a file as the one that Judy had showed him she had for the disappearance of Emmitt Otterton. That had basically just been a photo of Otterton eating a Pawpsicle, which had led her back to Nick, changing both their lives, and that case, in ways neither of them could've imagined. This file had the dates, names, and a few details for each of the drowning victims.

"Well, one thing I've noticed is that most of the drownings were around daybreak."

"Which is why Bogo wanted us to get our tails up here by dawn."

"Exactly. The last one was yesterday morning. But there's no pattern beyond that. Sometimes weeks will go by with no drowning. And the victims are all different types of mammals."

"Including sea mammals?"

She scanned the list. "No, but could sea mammals drown?"

"They could if they were unconscious or restrained."

"Good point." She made a quick note with her pen. Then she looked up. "I've never met a sea mammal before. I mean not in the dolphin sense."

"Cetaceans?"

"Right. And no pinnipeds or sirenians. Just polar bears."

"What about the Ottertons?"

"They're river otters."

"Ah, right. Well, I think you'll be meeting a few in the Canal District. This is the only part of Zootopia that they ever visit. Most of them prefer to be, well, out at sea."

"Of course."

Nick had a thought that maybe the murderer, if there was one, was a sea mammal. But he knew better than anyone not to make snap judgments about groups. Yes, it would be easier for, say, a whale to drown someone, but what would be the motive? He decided not to mention this to Judy, not unless the clues seemed to point in that direction.

As they boarded the escalator, Judy asked, "Do you think the murderer, if there is one, is nocturnal?"

"Hey, I'm nocturnal!" Well, he was by nature, although he'd adapted to daylight hours, with the help of sunglasses.

"No offense, Nick. I just meant because of the timing of the drownings."

"How do we know it's not some annoyingly perky morning mammal who gets up at the crack of dawn?"

She made a face. They'd bickered a little the last couple mornings over how early she set her alarm clock, although that wouldn't be an issue that day. She now said, "Actually, I'm crepuscular."

"What's that, creepy and muscular?"

"Ha ha. It means I'm most energetic around sunrise and sunset, which I think is one reason why the chief picked me for this case."

And Nick had apparently been chosen for his knowledge of the geography and transit system of Zootopia, which wasn't going to do them much good if they had to explore beyond the Canal District, as he feared they might. "Carrots, when are you not energetic?"

She ignored this and instead asked, as they reached street level, "Why did you choose this stop? I noticed on the map you showed me that there are six stops in the Canal District."

He shrugged. "I like the name, very exotic, Orchid Drive."

"Nick."

"OK, this is what I figure. The first stop, Fig Road, that's where animals go for a day trip, to say they've been to the Canal District, without going too deep in. And the four northern stops are too close to the open sea."

"But the drownings have mostly been on the north end."

"We may end up going there later, but not the first night, or day. I want our base, at least to start, to be away from the action. There are some rough characters in the north Canals."

"Nick, you know I'm not some fragile, sheltered little bunny. I've been to Tundratown and the Rainforest District!"

He knew better than to laugh. For someone from the 'Burrows, she had definitely stepped out of her comfort zone, taken some risks. But that didn't mean she was ready for the Canals. He knew she was fast and brave, but she still brought out his protective instinct. Not to the extent that he'd have discouraged her from coming to this district. After all, she was a police officer. But he felt protective enough that he was glad that she had someone like him as a partner. He held the door open for her and said, "Well, and now you're in the Canal District. Welcome to Shangri-Paw!"

She looked around at what was far from a paradise. Not that it was as run-down as some parts of the CD, but it wasn't as clean and shiny as Zootopia was elsewhere. It was a bit shabby, a bit damp, and very badly lit.

"I'm not surprised animals have drowned. It would be very easy to slip and slide right into the water."

"Yeah, or to be pushed into it."

"Nick, do you think these are murders or accidents?"

"Too soon to say, Fluff."

She nodded. "Come on, let's explore a little."

"OK, but watch your step."

"Good thing we can both swim."

"Yeah."

As they crossed the street, she said, "There aren't very many cars. I mean, I know it's late at night, but there aren't even that many parked."

"Yeah, despite the name, most animals don't drive on Orchid Drive. It's easier to get around by boat."

"That makes sense. When we get into better light, we should check the file and see if it says anything about boat accidents."

"Or they could've been swimming."

"Yes."

They carefully made their way to the pier. Nick, whose night vision was stronger than hers, kept an eye out for shady characters, but there were hardly any pedestrians around either.

He said, "Looks like we might not be interrogating anyone tonight."

"Well, it's still a couple hours till dawn."

"Yeah. Care to take a long walk?" Nick said, gesturing like a maitre d' at the short pier.

"Cute."

"Sorry, only another fox can call a fox cute."

"Foxy then."

"Thank you."

They took a short walk to the end of the pier. The moon peeked out a little from behind the clouds and reflected on the water.

"It's sort of pretty," she said.

"Yeah. Sort of."

"And now I think I have enough light to read."

"Good. So were they swimming or boating?" He looked at some of the ships and boats that were docked nearby. They ranged from rickety little canoes and rowboats to modest yachts. Nothing big or fancy. Definitely no cruise ships, but then those tended to arrive at and depart from the dock closest to Rain Lane.

"It's a mix," she said as she scanned the list. "But all the vessels were small, sailboats at the largest."

"Hm. And were the victims by themselves or with groups?"

"It doesn't say with all of them, but only one animal drowned in each incident."

"So the murderer, if there is one, tends to attack animals who don't have a big group to defend them."

"I think you're right."

"Like, if a couple is honeymooning on the Carnivore Cruise Line, they're probably pretty safe."

"Unless they're the main course."

"They just serve sweets, fish, and bugs, Sweetheart. Like civilized meat-eaters."

"It was a joke, Nick."

"Don't quit your day job, Carrots."

"Or night job in this case."

"Yeah."

Judy yawned. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. And night."

"And you were rockin' out pretty hard to Gazelle."

"I saw you getting down with your bad self a little."

"Maybe a little."

She rubbed her eyes. "I wish I could just get a cat-nap."

"No, the catnappings will be our next case. Lion purloining, jaguar jacking, tiger tagging—"

"Nick."

"Come with me, Fluff." He led her back down the pier and over to what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. He peered inside, yeah, deserted. Then he climbed in a broken window, careful not to cut himself on the shards.

"Nick, isn't this trespassing?"

"You wanna call a cop?"

She shook her head and then jumped inside, easily clearing the broken glass. There were some empty sacks, which he started to pile to make a bed.

"You want to sleep here?"

"You nap. I'll keep watch."

"OK. Thank you."

She lay down and curled up, looking very cute. He had an impulse to curl around her, like a closing parenthesis around a semicolon.

Then she said, "Nick, don't take this the wrong way, but could you cuddle me? I'd sleep better."

"I knew you couldn't resist me."

"Nick."

"OK, Fluff." He lay down next to her and then, after hesitating a moment, he curled around her, not too close, not pressing up against her, just near enough to sense her warmth and softness. He resisted putting his arms around her because he knew he would want to pull her tight against him. He knew it was just a male impulse towards a female, an impulse that apparently crossed the lines of species. He'd do his best to ignore it.

"Mmm, that's nice."

"It beats muzzling," he murmured, trying to ignore the way the tips of her ears tickled his. 

She chuckled sleepily. "Goodnight, Nick. Wake me before dawn."

"I will." If he didn't relax so much that he fell asleep, too. "Goodnight, Hopps."


	7. Seventh Stop:  The Pink Petal Hotel

Judy was unpacking in a not too sleazy hotel when Nick knocked. She went to the door. "What's up? Besides you." He was supposed to take a nap because he'd been up for almost 30 hours, since her alarm had woken them for a normal day at work, followed by the concert. Her quick nap in the empty warehouse had restored her energy, but he'd been dragging himself around that morning, as they explored the little island of Orchid Drive. The only animals they'd talked to were dock workers, who didn't have much to say, especially to the police.

"You got any aspirin? I've got a headache and I can't sleep."

"Yeah, in the medicine cabinet."

"Thanks." He came in and shut the door behind him. Then he headed for her bathroom.

She finished unpacking and wondered if she could turn on the TV at a low volume, or if that would disturb him when he went back to the neighboring room.

He emerged from the bathroom, holding two small pill bottles. "What's this?" he asked about the one that wasn't aspirin. "Heat Off? Carrots, this is the Canal District, not Sahara Square."

She could feel herself blushing. She mumbled, "It's not for that kind of heat."

"Oh!" Was Nick blushing, too? It was hard to tell with red fur. Then he teased, "So you don't trust yourself around me, huh?"

She decided to treat this seriously, because it was serious to her. "Nick, what do you know about estrus?"

"Well, that's when you females have your 'time of the month.' Or week, or whatever it is for each species. I'm guessing it's the time of the season for elephants."

"Yes. Well, with rabbits, it's pretty much nonstop from puberty onward."

She hadn't seen his jaw drop like that since she'd threatened him with the tax audit. After a moment, he managed to say, "Then that's not just a rumor?"

"No, as you say, some stereotypes are true."

"But, Fluff, I mean, not to be nosy, but if you're constantly, well, in the mood, how are you able to get through the day? Or the night."

She pointed at the bottle in his left paw. "We take that. Until we're married."

"Ah. So you're a...."

"Of course."

"Well, I guess that explains where all your energy comes from."

"I'm pretty energetic even for a rabbit."

"Yeah." He shook his head. "Wow, your future husband is going to be one happy bunny!"

"Nick."

"Sorry." He handed the bottle to her. "Take good care of this. I don't want our investigation sidetracked by you trying to make a buck."

She winced, groaned, and laughed in that order. "Nick!"

"Sorry, Fluff, I couldn't resist." He opened the other bottle and swallowed an aspirin.

"Don't you want water with that?"

"No, I'm good." He handed her that bottle, too. "Stay out of trouble, Hopps," he said and left the room, shutting the door again.

She shook her head. She was still embarrassed that he knew her secret, but he was her best friend. She had the feeling that he didn't have very many female friends, and maybe he had never talked with them about estrus. She'd certainly never talked with any male about it, beyond her father telling her, "Well, Jude the Dude, you're growing up now. And your mother would like to speak to you in the den."

She put both bottles back in the medicine cabinet and finished unpacking. Then she decided to use the time while Nick was napping to make some more notes on the case, including Zoogling information on drowning.

...

When Nick returned a few hours later, he acted as if they'd never touched the subject of mating, so she followed his lead.

"Nick, I discovered some facts about drowning, which may help us with the case."

"Like what?"

"Well, it happens mostly to males and young animals. And that correlates with the stats on the victims, who are mostly males in their teens and 20s."

"I'm glad I'm 32."

"Well, the oldest victim was a 70-year-old female. She fell off a sailboat during a storm."

"Could've been an accident."

"Yes, they all could've. But that's what we've got to find out."

"What else did you learn?"

"Well, drowning is usually fast and silent because the victim can't get enough air to call for help. Experts have to look for signs."

"Such as?"

"Well, according to Mickeypedia, the head will be either tilted back with the mouth open, or tilted forward with the mouth at water level. The eyes will be either glassy and unfocused or wide open and scared."

"So there may be totally opposite reactions?"

"Well, yes. And they may be trying to either swim or to roll over and float, but they can't move enough."

"And this has been happening around dawn, when there may not be enough light to tell what's going on."

"Yes."

"So what do we do if we see someone and we figure out they're drowning, assuming we have enough time to react?"

"Well, if we can't get help from someone who's trained in water rescue, which they didn't cover at the Police Academy when I was there—" 

"Yeah, who knew? It must be in the advanced course."

"Well, if it's an animal that's small enough for us to rescue, at least together, we'll need to get the mouth and nose above the surface. And if the animal clings to one or both of us, we have to be careful not to drown, too."

"Yeah, you know, Fluff, maybe we should leave this to the experts, like lifeguards."

"There might not be any around, especially at dawn. But if we have a buoyant object with us, that would help."

"Darn, I forgot to pack my rubber duck."

"Nick, we don't have to rescue anyone. I think we're here to prevent the accident, or crime, from happening. But I want us to be prepared, just in case."

He swallowed and nodded. "Anything else?"

"Well, obviously we would need to see that the victim gets to dry land, or a boat, as soon as possible. There's not much help we, or anyone, can give in the water."

"Yeah."

"I think with the victims in the file, well, the ones that were on their own, obviously no one was around to save them and for whatever reason, or reasons, they couldn't save themselves."

"And the ones with someone?"

"Well, the 70-year-old was with her husband. And he was her age and his reflexes were probably slow."

"What about the others?"

"I can't tell from the details."

"So where are these companions of the victims?"

"Well, most of them have probably gone home. The one from yesterday morning might still be around."

"So we should track him or her down."

"Yes, if we can."

"Carrots, do you realize that most of these mammals probably don't live in the CD? Why are we here?"

"I guess Chief Bogo thinks we need to be on the spot where this is happening."

"But are we here to prevent more drownings or to solve the ones that have already happened?"

"Well, probably both."

"It almost seems like we should split up. One of us would stay here in the CD and the other, I'm thinking you, could go interview the victims' friends and family."

"No, Nick, we're a team."

"OK, Judy, it was just a suggestion."

"Besides, we can go to the home districts of the victims later, after we've explored this district and found out what we can. And only if we can't solve this here."

"All right. So who or what was yesterday's victim? And who was their companion?"

Judy consulted the list. "Rocco Raccoon was the victim. He and his girlfriend Amanda, no last name given, were vacationing on the Banana Lane island, when he drowned swimming at dawn."

Nick nodded. "That's the next stop on the Green Line, heading north."

"I'll Zoogle what hotels there are for Banana Lane."

"Let's stick to this one for now, Fluff. We've already paid for two rooms and check-out time isn't till 11 a.m."

"No, I mean a hotel that they might've been staying at."

"Ah, good idea. Either she's still there, or we may be able to bribe the desk clerk for information."

She was about to say she didn't think police officers should stoop to bribery, but then she remembered their dealings with Mr. Big. "You don't think we can just flash our badges and they'll help?"

"You're in the CD now, Sweetheart."

"Right." She brought up the browser on her phone and started typing.

He looked over her shoulder. "You still have Lome?"

"What do you have, Petscape?"

"No, Squirefox."

"Of course. Hm, no results."

"What search terms did you use?"

"Hotels Banana Lane."

He shook his head. "Amateur." He took out his phone. She could see him going to Plagueslist.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you remember what I told you about mixed couples in the CD?"

"You think Amanda isn't a raccoon?"

"Not any more than I am. Here we go, 'casual encounters, Banana Lane.' With every sleazy, look-the-other-way, ask-about-our-hourly-rates hotel you, or rather they, could want."

"Do you think Rocco and Amanda met up through Plagueslist?"

"They might've. But it doesn't matter. The important thing is that I can convert this into a Nickslist and we can work from that. Banana Lane isn't a big island and I don't think it'll be a big list."

"But, Nick, why don't these hotels have websites? Or Yip reviews?"

"That's for respectable and semi-respectable establishments. Like the Pink Petal."

"Oh." She blushed a little. "You must think I'm terribly naive."

"Nah, just a little sheltered."

She couldn't deny that, although she had seen things since coming to the Big City that none of her family could imagine. (She had definitely never mentioned the naturalist club to her folks or any of her siblings.)

"That's why you've got someone jaded like me as a partner."

"You're not that jaded."

"You're right. I'm pretty innocent myself."

She shook her head. "Come on, let's go."

"OK, you're the boss."

It was what they'd said when she blackmailed him into helping her on the missing mammals case. He'd been kidding then. He was probably still kidding now. But he led the way back to the train station and bought them both tickets to the next stop.


	8. Eighth Stop: Banana Lane

Nick tried not to gloat. He'd guessed right. Amanda was a panda, a red panda.

"What do you want?" she demanded, opening the door only a crack.

"We'd like to talk to you about Rocco. We're here to help," Judy said. They'd agreed she'd do most of the talking, at least at first. She had a much more sympathetic demeanor, and a grieving female would more likely open up to her than to Nick.

"I don't need your help. I don't need anybody's help."

"Well, then we would like your help. We're trying to solve the crime."

"There was no crime. It was a tragic accident."

Nick wondered for a moment if Amanda Whatshername had killed her boyfriend, but it sounded more like she was scared of whoever had.

"We'd still like some information."

"I already filed a report yesterday morning."

"Yes, and we're following up on it. Your boyfriend wasn't the only one who's drowned in the last few months."

"He wasn't my boyfriend." To Nick's surprise, she opened her hotel door all the way and said, "Come on in."

"Thank you," Judy said.

They stepped in. He could see that Judy was trying not to flinch at the stains on the bedspread or the walls. He didn't tease her as he had at the naturalist center with "Does this make you uncomfortable?" This was actually one of the nicer sleazy hotels Nick had seen (mostly in movies). At least they'd sprung for the mirror on the ceiling. He straightened his sunglasses in it.

Judy looked down at her notepad and asked, "You did witness him drowning though? And you knew him?"

"Yes, we were involved."

"Involved but not dating?" Nick asked because he could see Judy wasn't sure how to ask it.

Amanda sighed. "My parents wouldn't have approved of him. Red pandas and raccoons may look alike, but we're not the same species."

"Right," Judy said, making a note.

"Look, when I made the report yesterday, they promised that my identity would be protected. I don't want this getting back to my family, or my work."

Now Judy looked up, with her big, sympathetic eyes. "We understand. And we'll honor that. We just want whatever information you can give us to solve this case, and the other drownings."

"Were the other drownings on naughty weekends?"

"Uh, we don't know."

Nick decided not to point out that the raccoon's drowning had been on a Tuesday. "There's a range of victims, different types, different circumstances."

"Mr. Raccoon was the most recent."

Amanda nodded. "Well, I don't know about the other animals, but his was an accident."

"Can you tell us what events led up to his drowning? What happened in the hours before he went swimming?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Poor Fluff blushed. "Um."

Nick took over. If Amanda was mourning, she wasn't exactly collapsed in sobs. And Hopps clearly wasn't up to interviewing her. "Why was he swimming so early?"

Amanda shrugged. "We thought it'd be fun. We'd been up all night and the sun was coming up. The water looked pretty and inviting."

"So you were swimming, too?"

"Yeah, but I'm not trained in water rescue. I know we should've waited till there were lifeguards around, but we weren't out that deep, and he was a good swimmer. And then suddenly." Now Amanda's face clouded over.

"Go on," Judy said gently.

"He just sank, like a rock. I looked away, just for a moment, and then he disappeared under the waves. I didn't even realize he was drowning. He didn't struggle or anything. I kept waiting for him to resurface. I thought maybe it was a joke. But it wasn't." She didn't cry but her voice got thick towards the end.

"You didn't go in right after eating, did you?"

"Nick," Judy scolded.

"I don't mean that as a joke. Maybe he was bloated from too big a breakfast or something."

Amanda shook her head. "We hadn't eaten since the night before."

"Amanda, did you two meet anyone suspicious while you were staying here?" Judy asked.

The panda shrugged. "Everyone's a little weird in the canals, aren't they?"

"I guess so."

Nick asked, "If we need to get in touch with you, will you be here much longer?"

"No, I've got to get back to work tomorrow. And I'd just as soon not have you get in touch with me when I'm back home. No one knows I came here with Rocco."

"All right. But if you want to reach us, this is my contact information," Judy said, handing over her card.

"Thanks," Amanda said, pocketing it without looking at it.

"Thank you for your time," Judy said.

"Sure."

They left and started walking towards the staircase. (The elevator was broken.)

"So what do you think?" Judy asked.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing, I don't think her name is Amanda. Probably Miranda or something like that."

"Do you think she was lying to us?"

"Not exactly. But she's not going to give out any information she doesn't have to."

"Is it because she doesn't want anyone to know about her relationship with Rocco or for other reasons?"

"I'm not sure. But, look, even if they were just...." As they headed downstairs, Nick scrambled for a euphemism. "...Frolic-buddies, don't you think she should've been a little more upset?"

"She may still be in shock. It just happened yesterday."

"Yeah, but right in front of her."

"Sort of. I mean, she must've seen his body when they pulled it out of the water, but it sounds like she didn't fully process his death as it was happening."

"Yeah. I don't know, Fluff. Bogo seems to think there's some kind of connection between this and all the other drownings, like the old lady on the sailboat. But what, other than the time of day and the district?"

"I don't know either." 

"I guess it's too soon to connect any dots."

"Yes. But it's a start."

"So where to next?"

"I want to talk to the District Manager."

"The guy who told Bogo these are just accidents?"

"Yes. I want to find out why he said that. Is he in denial? Is he covering up something?"

"OK," Nick said as they emerged back into the sunshine, "that means we need to go to district headquarters on Bromeliad Street. That's the biggest island of the CD and there may be other animals we can interview."

"Sounds good. I guess we'd better return to the train station."

"Yes, but first I want to get a smoothie."

"A smoothie?"

"Yeah, the ones on Banana Lane are the best."

"I thought that berries are your favorite fruit," she teased.

"I get the banana berry smoothie."

"Do you think they'd have carrot pineapple smoothies?"

"We can ask."


	9. Ninth Stop: Bromeliad Street

"Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Magawitz."

"Of course. Have a seat."

They looked at each other and then climbed into the same chair, just like they were at the police station. So much of Zootopia was not designed for smaller mammals, although sometimes accommodations were made. But the District Manager was a hippo and his office chairs were hippo-sized.

Judy took out her pen and prepared to take notes. 

"That's not a mic-pen, is it?" Magawitz asked.

"Well, um, it can be but I won't turn it on if you prefer not to be recorded."

"Let's keep it informal, shall we, Officer Hopps?"

"Uh, if you like."

"Now, I'm guessing Chief Bogo sent you up here."

"Well, yes."

To her surprise, the hippo chuckled and shook his head. "He's a good policeman, a good leader, but he tends to see conspiracies where there aren't any."

That was not at all Judy's experience with Bogo, quite the opposite. But she knew better than to argue.

"So, Sir," Nick said in his politest tones, with an underlying sarcasm that only Judy or one of his other good friends would've picked up on, "what do you think happened to the drowning victims?"

The hippo stopped looking so jolly. "This is a watery district, Officers. Unfortunately, not everyone pays enough attention to what they're doing in the Canals. And the tourists, Gourd bless them, are the worst. We do what we can but I think there's just not enough water safety training going on in the other districts."

"Yeah, we've started to notice that," Nick said.

"Good. Not that I have anything against tourists of course. In fact, one of my goals is to boost tourism. I think not enough mammals realize that this is a great place for a day trip."

"Or a night trip," Nick said out of the side of his mouth.

Judy tried not to blush, or laugh.

"In fact, I hope you two will come back on a vacation sometime. Have fun, go swimming, boating, see the sights."

"Sounds great," Nick said.

"Oh, and before you go—"

Judy was about to say they weren't finished yet, but Nick shot her a look to just go along with it, so she shut her mouth.

"Here are a couple coupons for a fine local restaurant."

He handed them across the desk and Judy did a little jump to grab them.

"Magawitz's Oyster House," Nick read over her shoulder. "Sounds yummy."

"It's not just seafood, mind you. Our lettuce and carrots are shipped in fresh from the 'Burrows daily."

"Oh, wonderful," Judy said, deciding not to point out that she didn't only eat "bunny food." She put the coupons in her pocket.

Nick looked at her again and then they both hopped down from the chair. The District Manager came around from behind his desk to shake their paws. "Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde. Good to meet you. And let me know if I can be of any help to you."

"We'll be in touch," Nick said.

After they left the building, Judy said, "We got even less out of him than we did out of 'Amanda.' "

"Hey, you're supposed to be the optimist."

"Do you think that was a successful interview?"

He shrugged. "We know he takes a personal interest in tourism, which means that he obviously doesn't want this to be known as the murder capital of Zootopia. What do you say we check out his restaurant?"

OK." She hadn't eaten much that day, not counting the Sunrise Smoothie. (Carrots, pineapples, and peaches, with a hint of blueberries.)

The address was on the coupon and she Zoogle-mapped it. It was close enough to walk to.

Bromeliad Island was flashier and more garish than either of the other two islands they'd been to so far, with brightly colored buildings that rivaled the flowers that it was named for. There were casinos and strip clubs, although those didn't seem to be doing much business in the daylight, judging by the parking lots. She imagined it was very different at night, with the neon flashing and more cars on the street.

"Do you want to stick around till after sunset or head back to Orchid Island?"

"Let's turn in early," she said. "Neither of us has gotten much sleep in the last 36 hours."

"Good point."

"Besides," she teased, "I remember you saying you didn't want to explore the North Side of the CD right off."

He shrugged. "We're just dipping our toes in. We can dive in deeper tomorrow."

"OK." She had seen and heard about as much as she could handle for now.

The restaurant wasn't too crowded. It was about an hour before the dinner rush. They were seated immediately and there was no one sitting at the neighboring tables. Maybe they could talk about the case, and other things beside the case.

After they ordered, he teased, "You're going to have some good stories to tell your folks next time you visit.

She grimaced. "Please, they're barely over the fact that I was on traffic duty."

"Yeah, catching a menacing sloth."

"Exactly. What about your parents? What do they think of your career change?" She couldn't imagine them as anywhere near as protective as hers. After all, he was male and a fox. Besides, he'd been running scams and hustles for twenty years. They were probably relieved to see him clearly on the right side of the law for a change.

"Uh, well."

She remembered that they hadn't gone to his graduation. "I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, it's OK. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you."

"Yes, Nick?" she said softly.

"My dad walked out on us when I was seven."

"Oh, Nick, I'm sorry!"

"Thanks. He didn't even leave a note. He just disappeared."

"Your mom scrimped and saved to get your Scout uniform when you were eight or nine," she murmured.

"Yeah. She held it together, held us together, as long as she could. Till I was twelve."

That was the age he started hustling. "Did she— Is she—?" She didn't know what to ask, how to ask. Which would be worse, if she died or if she'd left him, too?"

He shook his head. "She's not dead. She didn't leave me. Or not like that."

She remembered him joking that he'd call his mother from the Police Academy. He must've known where she was, but it probably wasn't someplace she could've left for his graduation.

"She's on Harbour Street."

"I don't think I—"

"It's on the Pink Line. You've probably never gone near it. It's in Savanna Central, but along the west coast, below the Rainforest District."

"OK." She could kind of visualize that. "What's she doing there?"

"She's in a, well, a sort of hospital."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say. She wanted to give him sympathy, but he tended to brush off sympathy, like when she'd tried to squeeze his arm the time he told her about his hazing by the other Scouts.

"So now you know."

"Thank you for telling me."

He nodded. "Thank you for listening."

Then the waitress brought their appetizers, crab cakes and voodoo shrimp. After she left, Nick said, "This is such optimistic-sounding food."

She smiled but couldn't laugh, still thinking about what he'd told her. She patted his arm and said, "I really do appreciate it, Nick."

"Hey, we had coupons."


	10. Tenth Stop: Rain Lane

"So where do you want to go first? The docks? The overpriced stores aimed at tourists? The umbrella rental shop?"

"Um, actually, I need to find a Volegreen's."

"A Volegreen's?"

"Or a Rat-Aid."

"There's a Winn-Vixen across the street. But what do you need so desperately?"

"Nick."

He coughed as he got it. "Oh, that."

"I'll be right back."

"OK, I'll wait under this awning."

The rain on Rain Lane was sort of a pain, but it wasn't like the name didn't warn you. He'd always thought it was strange that cruise ships docked there. Yes, the island was more accessible to the sea, but it didn't give tourists a very favorable first impression of Zootopia, and the rest of the district didn't help matters. Magawitz had his work cut out for him.

He was trying not to think about what Judy was buying, but it was hard not to. When he'd seen the bottle of Heat Off, there were maybe two dozen pills left. He had no idea how many she had to take per day. How low was she running? And what would happen if she ran out?

When she returned, it seemed to be empty-pawed, unless she'd tucked the bottle into a pocket. And she was frowning.

"Hey, Fluff, everything OK?"

She shook her head. "Let's go."

"Judy, talk to me."

"You'll just make fun of me."

"I never just make fun of you. I do other things, too."

She gave a grudging laugh and then she sighed. "They don't carry it."

"Well, let's find you a Rat-Aid. Or a Volegreen's."

"No, no place carries it. In the whole district."

"That's impossible!"

"No, Nick, it's not. Think about it."

He thought about it. An estrus suppressant probably would not be too popular in the free-wheeling, free-loving Canal District. "Oh, yeah. So what do you want to do?"

"I'm not sure. It's awhile till I run out. I need to take two a day, and I've got fourteen left."

"Well, that's a week. We could crack the case in that time. That's, what, 168 hours? And we've accomplished a lot in only 48 hours. It'll probably be OK."

"Probably. Anyway, I'm fine right now, so let's go to the umbrella rental. One of the animals who drowned off Rain Lane was a leopard and you know how cats hate to get wet."

"I'm not too crazy about it myself. But I guess it comes with the territory."

She nodded. As they walked along, trying to ignore the drizzle, Judy reviewed the information on that particular victim. "Leopold Spott was a young novelist who told his parents he was going to Rain Lane, hoping the bad weather would force him through his writer's block. He was here by himself and about a month ago he went for a walk along the docks at sunrise, probably to stir up his muse."

"Don't you mean his mews?"

"Funny. We should check out the docks after the umbrella shop."

"OK. I'm guessing he didn't buy an 'I Heart CD' T-shirt or a 'Rain Lane Is Insane' hat."

"Probably not."

"So we'll skip the tourist stores. Unless you want to buy something to send to your family?"

"Nick, I have 275 brothers and sisters. But if you want to get—" She gasped. "Oh, Nick, I'm sorry!"

"Don't sweat it, Carrots." He was glad he'd told her about his parents, so she could understand him better, but he hoped they would soon get past this phase where she kept apologizing. It wasn't her fault she had a happy childhood and he didn't.

"Um, let's try there." She pointed at Parasolitude.

He nodded. "That sounds like a place Leo would've liked."

They went inside and saw that there was a male kangaroo behind the counter. (No pouch.) His nametag said Rooben. He smiled at them. "Good day, Officers, what can I do for you?"

Judy took out the photo of Spott, a serious-looking leopard in his 20s, with glasses. "Do you remember seeing this mammal? About a month ago."

The kangaroo looked at the photo. "Yeah, he came in but he didn't rent anything. He said he liked long walks in the rain."

Nick murmured, "Off short piers," just loud enough for Judy to catch.

"Did he seem depressed? Suicidal?"

Rooben shrugged. "No more than most writers."

Nick wasn't sure if the kangaroo was joking. He asked, "Did you hear about him drowning?"

"Of course. It was off of Pier 39. Early in the morning, before anything was open. A friend of a friend said they saw him from a distance and he tripped or something and fell in. She tried to rescue him but it was too late."

Nick glanced at Judy who was vibrating with eagerness. Their first real clue! He shot her a _Calm down, Carrots_ look. Then he looked at Rooben and casually asked, "You happen to know this friend of a friend's name?"

"Sure, it's Dolly Finn."

"Let me guess. A dolphin?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I've got a gift for these things."

"Where can we find Ms. Finn?" Judy asked, clearly struggling not to hop up and down with excitement.

"Out at sea of course."

"Can you be more specific?" Nick asked.

"I can ask my friend."

"We might check back tomorrow," Judy said. "And thank you!"

"Of course."

After they left, Nick said, "I'm a little afraid of giving you caffeine, but what do you say we hit Snarlbucks?"

"OK. And I'll just have a ginger ale and a brownie."

"Sugar, even better."

"Aw, Nick, you've never called me 'Sugar' before." She squeezed his arm and then ran laughing down the street.

He shook his head and followed. She was in a long line and when she waved him over, the animals behind her looked annoyed.

"What do you want?" she asked. "I'm treating."

"Thanks. Just a venti latte macchiato."

"OK. Isn't it funny how 'tall' means 'small'?"

"Gee, I never noticed that before."

She chuckled and squeezed his arm, for a longer time this time. The aardvark behind them gave Nick a wink. He probably thought they were having a naughty weekend, as "Amanda" put it. Nick gently pulled away from Judy and tried to focus on the animals ahead of them.

There was a seal at the counter looking at a compact disc for sale. She said, "Oh, this doesn't have 'MacArthur Park' on it."

The barista, a porcupine with facial piercings, said, "I think it's just songs with 'Rain' in the title."

"I've been trying to find the cover by Jimmy Webbfoot."

"I don't know that version. Just the ones by Richard Horse and Donna Possummer."

"Well, this one is really good. It has a sort of melancholy sound—"

"Do you mind?" demanded the mongoose next in line.

"Oh, sorry, I'll take this one. And a strawberry Savannan soda."

The barista rang up the seal's order.

"Who still buys CDs?" Nick muttered.

"Maybe she wants a CD from the CD," Judy whispered and then laughed.

Nick wasn't used to her in this mood, especially not in the Canal District. He hoped she'd calm down quick. Or be gung-ho rather than giddy. That he knew how to handle.

He wasn't sure how much they could or should talk about the case in the crowded coffee shop, but as soon as they sat down with their drinks and her brownie, she got out the file and flipped open to Spott's page. She made notes with her carrot pen. "It doesn't mention them by name, but it does say that an aquatic mammal attempted and failed to rescue him."

"What's with this case and witnesses not giving their names?"

"I don't know, but we'll have to track down Dolly Finn."

"Excuse me." The seal at the next table took her earbuds out and Nick caught the Beagles singing, "Rain, I don't mind/ Shine, the weather's fine," before she shut it off. "Did you say Dolly Finn?"

"Uh, yes. Do you know her?"

Nick was going to scold Judy for making the assumption that all aquatic mammals know each other, when the seal said, "Not very well. But I can help you find her."

"Great! I'm Officer Hopps and this is Officer Wilde."

"Nice to meet you," the seal said, holding out a flipper for them to shake. "I'm Sealia Selkie."

"Ms. Selkie, where should we look for Ms. Finn?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Officer Hopps. But if you like, you can stay at my family's guest house while you're looking."

"Your guest house?" Nick repeated.

"Yes, Dolly doesn't really come ashore and you've got a better chance of reaching her closer to the open sea."

"And this guest house is near the open sea?"

"Yes. I can take you there and then you can use our rowboat to get around on your own if you want. You're investigating all these weird drownings, right?"

"Well, yes," Judy admitted.

"Finally! I was starting to wonder when Downtown would take this seriously. Sometimes it seems like no one cares about the Canals."

"No, that's not true," Judy said earnestly. "We care a lot!"

"I'm glad someone does."

"When can you take us?"

"As soon as I finish my soda."

"Uh, Officer Hopps, may I speak to you a moment? Outside?"

"Oh, sure, Officer Wilde. We'll be right back."

"I'll be here." Sealia put her earbuds back in and took another sip of her soda.

Nick led Judy out into the rain, leaving their drinks behind. "Carrots, what are you doing? We don't know her!"

"She seems really helpful, Nick."

"Yeah, so did Bellwether."

Judy winced. "Nick."

"I'm sorry, but you're really trusting, Fluff, especially towards harmless-seeming females."

"How do you know Sealia isn't harmless?"

"How do you know she is?"

"Well, I don't, but it makes sense, doesn't it, for us to get closer to the sea?"

"The drownings happened in the Canals."

"Yes, but the murderer, if there is one, may be a sea animal."

"Yeah, like a seal?"

"Or maybe a dolphin. Or even a shark."

"Sharks aren't sentient."

"We don't know that the murderer's sentient. Well, I guess that wouldn't meet the legal definition of murder, but it's a possibility, isn't it?"

He shook his head. "You really want to do this, don't you, Carrots?"

"Yes, Nick. I think it will open up possibilities for animals to interview, not just Ms. Finn."

He sighed. "OK, I'm probably going to regret this but we'll try it for a couple days and see what happens."

"Great!" She squeezed his arm again and then hopped inside.

Nick followed and heard a burst of Prancer's "Purple Rain" when Sealia popped out her earbuds again. "Well?" the seal asked.

Before Judy could jump in, Nick said, "Thank you. This is a very generous offer. But we need to go get our luggage from our hotel."

"OK, do you want to meet me at the docks at noon?"

"That would be perfect!"

"How will we find you?"

"My yacht is docked at Pier 11, and it's called _The Sedna_."

"Her yacht," Nick mouthed.

"Thanks again!" Judy said, shaking Sealia's flipper again.

"Don't mention it. I want these drownings stopped, whatever's causing them." Sealia's phone rang, with a ring tone of Filli Vanilli's "Blame It On the Rain." She looked and said, "Oh, excuse me, I've got to take this."

"No problem," Nick said. "We should be going."

"See you in a couple hours!"

Sealia nodded and left Snarlbucks, carrying the CD case and her soda.

"Well, Fluff, I guess we'd better return to the Pink Petal and repack."

Judy nodded and pocketed her uneaten brownie. They grabbed their drinks and went back out into the drizzle to catch the train from Rain Lane.


	11. Eleventh Stop: The Selkies' Yacht and Rowboat

Judy's nose twitched as the breeze caressed her face. She felt like she could smell the sea, saltier than the air on the mainland or even on the islands of the Canals. Then she went into the wheelhouse to check on Nick.

"So how far off is this guest house of yours?" He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, trying to look like he was used to traveling in yachts. Judy smiled to herself.

"Half an hour." Sealia straightened her captain's hat. "Well, it's about an hour by rowboat."

"Oh."

Judy wondered if that would be too far away from the Canal District. They couldn't rush back and forth. But maybe it would give them more flexibility than relying on the train schedule. She and Nick had talked on the trains going back and forth between Rain Lane and Orchid Drive about the pros and cons of this move out of the district. And they'd also discussed what they knew and what they needed to find out, the latter a much bigger category.

One thing they did not discuss was the fact that they would be staying in a guest house together, when she had only a week's worth of Heat Off. Well, they would have to have separate rooms. Sealia obviously had money, and even a small house of her family's would probably have three or more bedrooms. And maybe they'd find Dolly Finn right off and she would tell them enough that they could quickly crack the case.

Judy wandered back out onto the deck. It was really beautiful, the way the water reflected the sky. There were streams and ponds in Bunnyburrow, an occasional lake, but the land was dominant. Growing up, she had trouble picturing the open sea. Even crossing the South Sound to get to the Big City had dazzled her. The Canal District was a messy patchwork of land and water, alternating in an irregular pattern. This was different. If she leaned against the railing and strained her eyes, she could see where the horizon was smooth and blue.

"Careful, Fluff, you don't want to be the next drowning victim."

"Nick, sometimes your jokes are in bad taste."

"Maybe that wasn't a joke."

She looked over her shoulder and then she whispered, "Nick, I know you don't trust Sealia, but why would she invite us on her yacht in front of a coffee shop full of witnesses, if she just planned to get us out here and drown us?"

He shrugged. "I just think we should be careful. Check the rowboat for leaks."

She shook her head. She decided to try to forget about Nick's worries and enjoy the cruise.

After another twenty minutes or so, they approached some dramatic cliffs.

"Maybe she's going to lure us up to the top of a cliff and then push us off," Nick whispered.

"Nick, if you're really worried, you can go back to the CD."

"How? Swim? Besides, you need me, Hopps."

"Maybe you need me more."

"Sure, Fluff."

Sealia came out of the wheelhouse, her first mate having apparently taken the wheel. "We're almost there."

"Almost there?" Judy echoed. Where would a house be out there? The coast below the cliffs looked too rough for any dwellings.

"Yes, it's in that cavern up ahead.

"Cavern?" Nick said.

"Well, more of a cave really. I'll go tell the stewards to bring up your bags."

After the seal left, Nick began, "Carrots...."

"Nick, I know this is weird, but let's just see it through. For a couple days."

"Forty-eight hours," Nick muttered.

When they got close to the cave, Sealia said, "We don't have a dock, so you'll have to either swim ashore or take the rowboat."

"We'll take the rowboat," Judy said quickly, and then added, "Thank you."

"Of course."

Nick looked like he was biting his tongue.

"Ms. Selkie, before we go, could we get your contact information?"

"Of course. Here's my card. I should warn you though that this is a bad service area. You won't be able to get any phone or Internet connection out here."

"Wonderful," Nick muttered.

"What about from your home?" Judy asked.

"Oh, it's fine."

"We'll call you from the Canal District then."

"That works."

"No. No, it doesn't." They both looked at Nick, who seemed to be trying to control his temper. "You told us you'd help us find Dolly Finn. But you're just abandoning us at a cave?"

"Nick."

"It's all right, Officer Hopps. Officer Wilde, I understand your concern. If you like, I can give you directions to a place where we can meet up in a couple hours. I may even be able to bring Dolly there."

"Great."

Sealia signalled to a steward, who brought her a pen and a piece of paper. She jotted something down and then handed it to Nick, who glanced at it before pocketing it.

"Two hours from now?"

"Yes. It's only ten minutes by rowboat."

"Fantastic."

"Thanks again, Ms. Selkie, we'll see you soon," Judy said. She thought the best thing would be to get into the rowboat and off the yacht so that they could go to the cave and Nick could vent. Then once he'd calmed down, they could figure out how to proceed.

The stewards helped them into the rowboat and handed them their luggage. Then the stewards lowered the boat over the side of the yacht and down into the water. Judy suddenly realized she had no idea how to row.

"Another skill they should've taught us at the Academy." Was it a hopeful sign that Nick was joking again? Or was that not a joke?

They did their best. It took awhile to figure out to hold the oars and even longer to figure out how to work together as a team. The yacht took off long before then.

"I hope it doesn't take us two hours just to get to the cave."

"Nick, I'm really sorry about all this."

"Let's not waste our energy on talking."

Eventually they made it to the shore, a thin strip of sand lying before the dark cave.

She asked, "Do we tie the boat up or bring it with us into the cave?"

"You're asking me?"

"Let's take it with us, in case the tide comes in."

"Whatever."

Nick carried the boat, while she took the suitcases. She set them down at the mouth of the cave, so she could take out her phone for the light. (At least that function worked.) She looked around the cave and gasped in disbelief.

Nick, who couldn't see anything with the boat over his head, snapped, "What now, Hopps?"


	12. Twelfth Stop: Seal Rock Café

"Well, um."

Nick sighed and took the boat off his head, leaning it against the wall of the cave. Then he looked around by the light of Judy's phone. His vision was better than hers, so it looked even worse to him. It was, well, a cave. With a couple mattresses on the floor, and no other furniture. "Hey, two beds. Deluxe accommodations."

"Nick, I am so sorry."

He sighed. "Never mind, Fluff. At least we're not paying for it. I think."

"I wonder why Sealia didn't ask us to stay with her family. They probably have guest rooms."

"And Internet."

"Yeah."

"Well, she probably didn't want to interfere with our independence." He picked up his suitcase and then set it back down. "I guess there's no point in unpacking. Considering there are no dressers. Or closets."

"Maybe we should head out to the rendezvous location. I mean, she said it'd take ten minutes but considering we're not very good at rowing...."

"Good point." He took out the piece of paper with directions.

"Did she say what the name of the place is?"

He read it. "Yeah, the Seal Rock Café. Which I'm guessing is a big rock with seals on it. Maybe with tables and food, if we're lucky."

"That makes sense. It has to be someplace where bipedal and non-bipedal animals would be able to meet."

"Yeah, let's hope Finn shows up." He tucked the paper back into his pocket.

She nodded. "Well, let's go."

He sighed and went over and picked up the boat again.

"You want some help with that?"

"No, I got it." He walked out of the cave until his feet got wet. Then he flipped the boat over and carefully got in.

"Um, I think we need these," Judy said, picking up the oars, which had fallen out onto the sand earlier.

"Yeah, probably."

She hopped in and handed him an oar.

"Thanks." He pushed against the shore with his oar to get them further out into the water. "Next time, let's put the boat in deeper before we get in."

"Good idea."

He shook his head. "It's hard to believe we were both top of our class."

"Well, I'm just a dumb bunny."

"Sure you are."

Then they didn't talk much as they rowed. Every once in awhile, Nick would check the directions. And sure enough, twenty minutes later, they saw the sign for the restaurant. And an enormous rock behind that.

"Well, better early than late," she said.

He nodded. "We can get lunch while we wait."

"OK."

There was a dock with a capybara valet who helped them tie up the boat and helped them out of it. Judy tipped him and he smiled and led them up a path that was bipedal-friendly. There were tables, sort of. Well, slabs. Judy sat down next to one and Nick sighed and sat across from her.

An otter waiter came over and said, "Good afternoon. Can I get you folks anything to drink?"

"Yes, a strawberry milkshake."

"And for you, Sir?"

Nick decided he'd better not get anything alcoholic. He needed a clear head, for a lot of reasons. "Um, a virgin mango berry cooler."

"You got it. And here are the menus."

"Thank you," Judy said. "Oh, before you go, do you happen to know a dolphin named Dolly Finn?"

"Sure, everyone knows Dolly."

"Does she come here often?" Nick asked.

The waiter shrugged. "Define often."

"In the past month?"

"Oh, sure. Do you want any starters?"

They flipped open their menus.

"You wanna split chicken poutine, Carrots?"

"Sorry, Sir, it doesn't come with vegetables."

Judy smiled. "Chicken poutine would be fine."

After the waiter left, Nick asked, "What are we going to do about breakfast?"

"Breakfast?"

"Yeah, as you may've noticed, our cave doesn't exactly have a kitchenette. And it's a long way from anyplace that serves even brunch."

"Well, I guess we'll have to skip breakfast some mornings."

"Some mornings? I thought we were staying only a couple days."

"I don't know, Nick. Let's just play it by ear."

"Easy for you to say, Fluff."

"Don't be speciesist."

He chuckled.

After the poutine, she got a veggie burger, while he had grilled salmon. It was the best meal he'd had in weeks, although that included his time at the Police Academy, so that wasn't saying much. "Better than Magawitz's," he said with his mouth half full.

"I thought it was OK. But, yes, this is better."

"You wanna get dessert?"

"Maybe we should, if we're not having breakfast."

He got a blackberry cheesecake with Spooreo cookie pieces, while she had a cucumber cobbler, which was better than it sounded. They shared their desserts with each other. When she first held her fork out for him to take a bite, he felt like they were on a date. But he didn't want to say anything about that, even as a joke. It was going to be awkward enough sleeping in the same room with each other.

He was about to call for the check, when he heard, "Oh, you got here early." He turned and saw Sealia coming over. Even among seals, she stood out, having put on a feathered dress and a shark's tooth necklace since they parted.

"Were you able to find Ms. Finn?" Judy asked eagerly.

"Uh huh. She'll be here in about fifteen minutes."

"Oh, good."

"I think I'll get a snack. Oh, and don't worry about the check. It's on me."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks." Nick could not figure Sealia out. She seemed generous at times, but then she was having them stay in a "guest house" that was barely a room.

"Um, Sealia, can we talk about the guest house?" So Judy was going to bring it up.

"No need to thank me again. Oh, did you guys find the fishing poles?"

"The fishing poles?"

"So you can get food right out the front door."

Nick wondered if he should mention that there was no front door. Instead he said, "We don't know how to fish."

"Oh, I do," Judy said brightly. "I used to go to the crick and—"

"The crick?"

She blushed a little. "I mean the creek."

He wanted to tease her but felt funny about it in front of the seal.

"Then you should have no problem. It's a really good spot for fishing, and there's nothing better than fish for breakfast, am I right?"

"Oh, yeah," Nick said, trying to dial down to only a 5 on the sarcasm scale.

Then the waiter came over and Sealia ordered. After that, she mostly talked about food. She did offer to get something for Nick and Judy, but they were both full.

"Hey, there's Dolly!" cried one of the other seals.

"Oh, cool. I'll come over as soon as I finish."

"Shouldn't you introduce us?" Nick asked.

Sealia shrugged. "What other fox and bunny cop teams are there?"

"Come on," Judy said, skipping over to the lowest end of the rock.

Nick followed more cautiously, since the rock was slippery in places. He saw a dolphin with a long scarf, poking her head above water.

"Hi, Ms. Finn?"

"Yeah, are you the fuzz Selkie told me about?"

"Uh, yeah," Nick said.

"Cool. So, like, I saw this leopard, right? He was walking along the dock at sunrise. Kind of lost in thought. I mean, I wasn't real close and it was kind of dark, but that was the vibe I got. And then, he kind of staggers, like he's loaded."

"Do you mean intoxicated on alcohol or drugs?" Judy asked in her crispest, most policey tone.

The dolphin shrugged as well as she could without really having shoulders. "Who knows? The coroner's report would show it, right?"

"Our file didn't say anything about it," Judy said.

"Well, maybe he was just dizzy. Anyway, he, whoa, falls into the water! So I swam over there as soon as I could. I pulled him—"

"How? You've just got little flippers."

"Don't be rude, Nick. Uh, I mean, Officer Wilde."

"It's cool. I grabbed the dude's shirt in my mouth and dragged him to the shore. Then I had to get back into the water. I mean, I'm not like these sea lions, right?"

"I think they're seals," Nick said looking around and realized he wasn't sure of the difference.

"Do you think he could've tripped?"

"Like on acid?"

"No, like on, um, whatever would've been on a dock."

"Flotsam and jetsam?" Nick suggested.

Judy rolled her eyes.

"I didn't see or hear anything. Not till the splash."

"Do you know of any similar drownings?"

"Nah, but I can ask around."

"Can you give us your contact information? And do you want our contacts?"

"Nah, I'm not really into the whole social media thing. Even phones tie you down. If I hear something, I'll sonar it to a mutual friend of Selkie's."

"Well, thank you."

"No sweat." Then Dolly dived under the waves.

Sealia waddled over. "Did she tell you what you need to know?"

"Um, we're still putting all the pieces together."

"Come on, Officer Hopps. We're going on a fishing expedition."


	13. Thirteenth Stop: The Selkie Guest House, Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story hops up to an M-rating with this chapter. If you prefer a T-rated, "heat-less" version, please see https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11862779/1/Welcome-to-Shangri-Paw. The basic plot is the same.

"You can bring home the salmon and I'll fry it up in the pan," Nick quietly sang to the tune of a commercial before Judy's time, maybe before his time, but she'd seen it on Ewetube.

"Not exactly salmon. Or a pan," Judy said, looking at the herring Nick was toasting. He'd gathered a bunch of sticks (driftwood), carefully spread some in a campfire formation, and then rubbed two more together. "If the Scouts could see you now," she'd gently teased.

He now said, "Well, there's always breakfast."

She nodded. This was a light dinner, after they'd gorged at Seal Rock that afternoon.

"Here, yours is ready. Careful, it's hot."

"Thank you." She grabbed it quickly with her paw and dropped it to the sand to let it cool.

"So," Nick said, putting another herring on the toasting stick, "what do you think about Finn? As a witness not an animal, I mean."

"Well, there are some inconsistencies with what she and Rooben said." Judy flipped through her notepad. "He said that the friend of a friend, Dolly, said that Spott 'tripped or something.' But when I asked her about it, she seemed confused and then said she didn't think he had."

"Good point. Also, a little later, at Snarlbucks, Sealia said that Dolly 'doesn't really come ashore.' But then Finn claims she pulled Spott onto land."

"Well, I think dolphins can come ashore a little way but they have to get back in the water right away. It's different with seals."

"And sea lions. What was the deal with her not knowing the difference?"

"I'm not sure I know the difference," Judy admitted.

"Me neither. But we're not aquatic mammals."

"True." Judy sighed. "I don't know. She might've been lying, to us or to someone. But maybe she's one of those animals who bend the truth to make a better story."

"Yeah? Maybe she didn't actually try to rescue Spott. She could've just claimed to when whoever reported the drowning realized she was a witness."

"I don't know. This is such a strange case, Nick."

"Yeah. Eat your herring before it gets cold."

She picked it up and brushed off the sand. Then she ate it with her paws, since they didn't have any silverware. It only took a couple bites.

"You gonna want another?"

"We only have four."

"Well, I only want two."

"Yes, another please."

"You got it," Nick said, sliding his off the stick and into the sand before starting a new herring.

She didn't know if this was the right moment but she wanted to talk to him about something and she figured it was better to do it before it was too late. "Um, Nick, about tonight."

"No sweat, Carrots. I know what you're going to say and it's all right. We'll put the rowboat between the mattresses and that will represent a wall."

"Oh, right. Well, the thing is, I'm going to go off Heat Off."

He stared at her. "You are?"

"Just at night. I mean, our investigations seem to be only during the daytime. So if I just take one pill a day, then they'll last two weeks."

"You think this case will take two weeks?"

"I hope not, but it might take more than a week. So...."

"And what am I supposed to be doing while you're in heat? Sleeping in the rowboat, several miles out at sea?"

"Well, no. You see, I was thinking. I could, well, take care of myself. And then I'd probably fall asleep right after."

"Probably? Have you never...pawed yourself?"

"Well, no, I haven't been interested in, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"But I've heard that's what happens when male bunnies take care of themselves." She'd overheard her older brothers joking about it.

"They must have to do that a lot if all you girl bunnies are on Heat Off till you hear wedding bells."

"Well, yes, probably. Anyway, Nick, I'll do it as quickly as I can. And then you can come back into the cave."

"When it's safe?"

She blushed. "Nick, it's not like I'm going to jump you."

"Of course not. I'm from a different species."

"Well, yes. But I realize it would be uncomfortable for both of us to be in the same room while I'm...."

"Busy?"

"Yes."

"So when's it going to wear off? The last pill you took I mean."

She looked at her watch. "Um, in about fifteen minutes."

"Well, at least we have time to finish dinner."

So they did.

...

Nick swallowed his last bite of herring and then said, "I would go swimming but I just ate."

"You shouldn't swim alone at night, Nick. It's not safe."

He bit his tongue so he wouldn't say, "Well, it's probably safer than being around a horny bunny." Instead, he stood up and said, "I'm going for a walk. Have fun."

She blushed. "Thank you." She got to her feet and went inside the cave.

He heard her gasp in surprise. He wondered if the heat had just kicked in. He wondered if it was strong right off or if it built. He realized he shouldn't be thinking these things about his best friend, but how could he not?

He started walking along the narrow beach, the waves sometimes teasing his feet. He wasn't able to get too far away and he could hear her first moan loud and clear. He leaned against the rugged face of the cliff, knowing he would have to wait this out. His hearing wasn't as sharp as hers but it was sharp enough to catch even her little whimpers and sighs. He wondered what it was like for her, at twenty-four, to feel passion for the first time. Well, she was passionate about her work, but physical passion would be new to her.

It was something he'd known for almost twenty years, and learned to deal with. Except now, oh no, not now!

_Female! Female in estrus!_

_Hush, it's Judy._

_She needs me!_

_No, she doesn't. She needs a male bunny. A bunny hubby._

_Listen to her! She's calling for me!_

_No, trust me. I'm the head with ears. It's not what it sounds like._

_She loves you!_

_Not like that._

_She'd love me._

_Well, you're not going to get to meet her, so shut up._

_If she gets pawing, I should, too._

_Fine, if it'll quiet you down._

Trying to blank out his mind, to not picture what Judy was doing to herself, or what his other best friend would like to do to her, he pawed himself as quickly and quietly as he could.

He finished before she did, from the sound of it. But eventually she cried, "OH YES!" and then fell silent.

He washed up in the waves and then, shivering in the cold, he carefully made his way back to the cave. He peered in and saw Judy sleeping with a sweet, contented, somehow still innocent smile. She was wearing a sleepshirt that said _Bunnyburrow High School_ , with a mascot of a carrot in a double-horned helmet.

He quietly changed into his pajamas, put the rowboat next to her mattress, and lay down on his mattress. It took him awhile to fall asleep but he did fall.

...

Judy awoke with a smile on her face. At first she didn't remember why and then she did. Last night she had felt desire, sexual desire, for the first time in her life. And even though she had deliberately gone off Heat Off, the feelings had taken her by surprise. Both physical and emotional feelings.

She almost didn't know what to do, but she decided the first thing was to change into her sleepshirt, with no panties, and lie down. She tried not to think of Nick walking around outside, she tried not to think of anyone, but that was impossible. She needed a focus, an imaginary partner. A celebrity crush seemed safest, but she didn't really have any, not like her mom, with Rabbit Redfur and Warren Matey. Well, Judy had grown up with the _Garry Otter_ movies and she kind of thought Rapid Grunt, who played the sidekick Bun Easily, was kind of cute. So she imagined Bun kissing Haremione Grange (played by Cinema Swotbun) and let it escalate from there.

When she reached orgasm, that sort of took her by surprise, too, even though she'd been working towards it. It was so intense! And afterwards she did feel sleepy, and oddly proud of herself.

Thinking about this the next morning, she felt like touching herself again. And then she heard Nick snore. Nick! Her eyes blinked open and she sat straight up in bed. Good, he was sleeping on the other mattress. Aww, he looked so cute asleep. He was really quite good-looking for a fox.

She shook her head and scrambled for the bottle of Heat Off. She winced at the taste of the pill and wished she'd had it with water, but the only water around was seawater.

Checking that Nick was still asleep, she grabbed some clean clothes and went outside. She stripped off her sleepshirt and went into the water. It was as close as she'd get to a bath for awhile. The water was cold but refreshing. After awhile, she went back on shore and dressed quickly, trying to ignore her wet fur. (Nick had joked about stealing hotel towels from the Pink Petal, but he hadn't.)

Nick was still asleep and had only rolled over onto his other side. She carefully pushed the boat from between the mattresses and out to the water. Then she got the oars and a fishing pole. She may as well catch breakfast. Her heat had definitely faded now and even the memory of it was starting to fade.

...

Nick awoke with a smile on his face. He'd been dreaming of Judy, thinking of what she'd done last night, only in his dream he could see her doing it. Then he became conscious enough to remember that he was lying in the same room with her. And he didn't know how he was going to explain away his erection if she saw it. Well, maybe he could just tell her it was a normal morning glory, nothing to do with her.

Then he noticed that she wasn't in the room. And neither was the boat! Had she run off, too embarrassed by what had happened? What was he supposed to do, stuck in a cave, with no way to communicate with the outside world?

After a minute, he came to his senses. She must've gotten up early, like usual, and decided to use the time to go fishing. He wondered how long she'd been gone and when she'd be coming back. He supposed it depended on if the fish were biting and whether she was back to herself enough to catch any.

His erection had faded when he worried about being abandoned. He decided it was best not to try to bring it back. So he got up and, checking that she wasn't in sight, he stripped down on the beach and went in for a cold but refreshing dip. Then he put on fresh clothes and waited for her to come back with whatever she caught. They could talk about the case and ignore the last twelve hours or so.


	14. Fourteenth Stop: Kapok Street

They carefully steered their rowboat between the islands. It was more of a challenge than the relatively open water they'd maneuvered their way through the day before. Judy had a bit more rowing experience now that she'd gone fishing a couple times, but it wasn't much help here, especially not with other boats around.

She did like the independence of the rowboat though, compared to being dependent on the train schedules. She missed their cool police cruiser, being able to drive almost anywhere they wanted to go. But this was better than when they were covering the missing mammals case and had had to rely on not only trains but skytrams.

Nick joked, in his dark way, about how they might end up as drowning statistics themselves, but their teamwork as rowers was improving. And it did help in understanding more about the drowning victims who had been in boats and ships. That was what they were going to focus on today, investigating sailboat sales and rentals and such. A lot of boating was centered on Kapok Street, the middle of the North Side of the CD.

"How about here?" she suggested, as they came up to a sign for Yakmaha Pleasure Crafts.

He shrugged. "Sounds as good as any."

They got to the dock and he carefully got out and tied up the boat. Then he helped her out. They went into the open door of the shop.

"Hello there," said the moose salesman. "It looks like you folks are looking to upgrade."

They were in plainclothes, so Judy flashed her badge and said, "No, we're with the ZPD. We'd like to ask you some questions about some recent drowning victims."

The moose stopped smiling. "Look, if animals don't know how to handle boats responsibly, that's not my fault. I just sell them."

"We're not blaming you, Sir."

Nick grabbed the file from Judy. "We just want to know if you recognize any of the victims."

The moose sighed and took the folder, opening it on the counter. "Yeah, this old lady? Sailboat. The camel, trawler. The bison, tugboat. The mouse, motorboat."

Judy was impressed by his memory, although maybe that was part of being in business. Her parents remembered almost everyone who came to their produce stand, but those tended to be friends and neighbors who shopped there often.

"Do you remember hearing about the drownings at the time?" Nick asked.

The moose hesitated and then said, "Well, yeah, a little."

Judy said, "You see, Mr. Yakmaha—"

"It's Alces. Yakmaha is the company name."

"Oh, yes, of course. Well, we're looking for patterns. Things that the victims had in common."

"They were all different kinds of mammals. Well, mostly prey."

"That's not what I mean. We know that they mostly died around sunrise. But if we could figure out what events led up to the drownings, that would be a big help."

"What, you think I had security cameras on the boats and I was watching them?"

"No, of course not." Judy suddenly remembered Nick joking about the tram-cams and how that had helped them solve the missing mammals case. But a helicopter wouldn't have been able to pick up any subtle details, like what had caused Leopold Spott to possibly stumble before he fell in.

Nick asked, "Are your boats equipped with bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms?"

"We call those staterooms, galleys, heads. And of course. I mean, nothing too fancy on the tugboat, but yeah. Not everyone wants the simplicity of a rowboat."

Judy decided to ignore the implied insult. "So someone could live on one of your boats? Or at least not have to go ashore for every little thing."

"Of course."

"Thank you, this is a big help."

"Yeah, thanks, Buddy. We'll keep you in mind for when we're ready to buy a yacht."

The moose looked puzzled as they waved goodbye.

They walked back to the rowboat. Nick got in first and Judy untied it, then he helped her in. They waited till they had gone a few yards, before they looked at each other and nodded.

"Something's happening to animals on the boats," Judy said.

"Yeah, but what about the ones who weren't on boats?"

"Nick, is it possible that there's more than one cause of the drownings? Maybe we were wrong to lump them all together."

"Maybe. But if you want to go in that direction, there could be a different cause in every case."

She sighed. "Yeah. But getting back to the boats, maybe there was something on or in the boats that caused the animals to drown."

"Like a big hole in the deck?"

"Nick."

"No, you may be on to something, Fluff. I thought about asking him if we could take a look at one of his boats, but it may not be a feature in all of them. In fact, they may've been sabotaged once specific animals bought them."

"By Mr. Alces?"

"Or someone out to frame him."

"As a murderer?"

"Yeah, that would be a pretty complicated revenge.

"Well, we're just brainstorming here."

"OK. Here's something to think about, Carrots. How did the murderer, or saboteur, if there is one, manage to time it so that the deaths were all around sunrise? I can see him or her going around causing animals to drown when they're swimming, by swimming out there at the same time and pulling them under."

"Like Dolly had the opportunity to do."

"Yeah. But on a boat?"

"Maybe the murderer swam onto the boat, threw a sleeping animal overboard, and then swam away before the drowning was discovered."

"Maybe. But this seems like a lot of trouble to go to."

"Did you expect the murderer to be lazy?"

"Well, no, but what's he or she getting out of it? What's the motive? Like, Bellwether wanted to get power by causing panic and fear, dividing Zootopia. What does the murderer get out of drowning the victims?"

"Like you said, revenge."

"On all those different mammals?"

She sighed again. "I don't know."

"It's OK, Judy. I've got an idea. Let's go on a tour boat."

"Huh?"

"You know, something that'll go around the bay for about an hour. We can ask the captain questions, maybe get a tour of the boat itself."

"Why not just go on the boat while it's docked?"

"I want to get a sense of how it looks and feels while it's moving. I mean, we've been on a yacht but we didn't really look around. There may be a clue if we pay attention."

"OK, there's no harm in trying I guess."

Since her phone was working fine back in the CD, she looked up tour boats and found Kapok Kruise. The boat left every couple hours, and they could go if they made it there in fifteen minutes.  


They arrived just in time and quickly bought tickets. "Do you think Bogo will cover this, too?" she asked.

"If we solve the case. And if we fill out the proper forms. Which as you know, I'm very good at."

She smiled. "I know."

The captain was a coyote, so it seemed easier to have Nick strike up a conversation with him out of canine solidarity, "Hey, Buddy, this is quite a boat," and flatter him into letting them look around. Of course, they weren't exactly sure what they were looking for. Judy was mostly trying to imagine ways that someone, possibly asleep, or half asleep, could fall off a boat. Could someone have been so sleepy that they would just walk right off the boat and into the water? Or maybe the waves were rough and they were tossed out of the boat. But then what about the animals who had been with someone? How was it that their companions hadn't drowned, too? Was it a personal vendetta? Or were these really just accidents?

Judy took down what notes she could but she also spent some time just looking at the scenery. She wondered what it would be like if she and Nick were just visiting the canals for fun. Not naughty fun, but two companions enjoying some time off. She was a hard worker, but she could imagine how nice it would be to spend a vacation with him. He was sarcastic and sometimes cynical, but he was also surprisingly adventurous, and a lot of fun when he let himself go.

The thing was, he was also fun to work with. She had wanted him for a partner because they were a good team, because they balanced each other. But the work itself was fun, whether it was hustling Bellwether or catching Flash. She wondered if she would've stayed with police work if not for Nick. Well, Bogo would've made her turn in her badge and she would've gone home to the farm a few weeks earlier. And maybe she wouldn't have found out about the Night Howlers, because she wouldn't have followed all the clues leading to the Rainforest.

"Hey, Carrots, check this out." They were on deck again and Nick was leaning back in a chair. "What if someone leaned back too far and—oopsie—over the side!"

"Nick, be careful!"

He tipped the chair forward so that the legs were all touching the deck again. "Relax, Hopps. I'm fine."

"Do you think that's what happened with all of the victims who were on boats?"

"Well, maybe some of them."

"So then those would be accidents."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just brainstorming."

"Right."

"Hold on. I've got to go use the head."

She blinked. "Nick, wait!"

"Judy, I have to go. What do you want me to do, pee over the side of the boat?"

"Nick, that's it!"

"Huh?"

"The victims were mostly male. And, well, not to be crude, but I have a lot of brothers, and sometimes males will just pee anywhere."

Nick grimaced. "Hopps!"

"No, hear me out. What if someone wasn't fully awake, or if the toilet was backed up, and he decides to just pee off the side of the boat? And he falls overboard?"

"Are you asking me to test this theory?"

"No, Nick, go use the toilet."

"Thank you."

While he was gone, she remembered the 70-year-old lady on a sailboat. She couldn't picture a probably dignified old lady relieving herself that way. But maybe she would've if she were half asleep. Or if she were incontinent. Judy shuddered. She was starting to disgust herself.

When Nick came back, she said, "I'm sorry."

"It's OK. I was thinking, what if something came up from the toilet and grabbed them?"

"Nick!"

He smirked and quietly said, "I win."

He was as bad a brother, and at least as dear to her.


	15. Fifteenth Stop:  The Selkie Guest House, Part Two

Nick had done his best all day to not think about what had happened the night before, but of course it crossed his mind. And by the time Judy said, "Um, well, I guess I should be turning in," he had made up his mind.

"Hold on, Fluff."

"Nick, I know it's an uncomfortable situation, but, I don't know. Maybe you could wear earbuds?"

He chuckled. "Well, thanks. But I'm still going to know what you're doing. So, you can say no if you want, but I was thinking, maybe I could, you know, help you out."

"You'd be willing to find a drugstore and buy some Heat Off for me?"

"Uh, no. I'm not that good a friend. But I am a good enough friend that if you'd like me to, well, lend a paw...."

Judy blushed more deeply than he'd ever seen her, so that her face looked more pink than gray.

"Hey, you know what? Let's just pretend I never said that out loud and I'll go get my earbuds and go for a really long walk and—"

"Nick, wait. You would do that for me?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, well, I just think it would be more efficient."

"Efficient?"

"Yeah, because having someone else do that to you would be, well, more intense, so you could probably finish faster."

"That's very practical of you."

"That's what makes me a good cop."

"Right. Um, Nick, wouldn't you feel a little strange about this, considering we've never even kissed?"

"Well, we could kiss. If that would make you more comfortable with the idea. I don't have anything against kissing, even kissing you."

"Gee, thanks."

"Hopps, I didn't mean— Look, you're the one who said you'd never date a fox."

"I didn't mean it like that and— Wait, are you asking me out?"

"No! Of course not. I'm just platonically offering you manual pleasure."

They looked at each other and then laughed. Then they looked at each other and got very serious.

"Nick," she whispered.

"What, Fluff?" he whispered back.

She leaned forward (luckily they were both sitting, having just finished another fish dinner), and kissed him softly on the lips. Then she backed away before he could kiss back. "Was that OK?"

"It'll do for a start." He pulled her close and kissed her for a longer time. And she kissed back.

It was an adjustment at first, kissing a bunny. There was no snout, just a cute little wiggly nose. When he kissed other foxes, they both had to tilt their heads. But this was nice, very nice.

"Mmm, I wish I'd known what a good kisser you are. We could've done this weeks ago."

"It might've gotten in the way of our friendship."

She laughed. "Right. Um, Nick, my pill's going to wear off soon."

"Then we'd better go to bed."

"Nick, you're not going to try and, um."

"Mate? No, sorry, you're just getting my paw tonight. Or any night."

"OK. I'm not ready for mating. I just wasn't sure what your expectations were."

"You get naked. I won't."

"Well, as long as it doesn't make you uncomfortable." Then she groaned and he suspected that the estrus was kicking in. "Nick, you're not just teasing me? You really will paw me?"

"As much as you want, Fluff."

"Good." She stood up and tore off her street clothes. In a moment she was standing there in just her underwear.

Nick gasped. She looked both soft and dazzling, especially in the firelight. Her legs were both curvy and sturdy, her breasts as perky as her personality, and—

"Oh, Nick, you're hard!"

"Ignore it. It's a reflex."

She laughed. "A reflex?"

"Let's concentrate on you."

"But won't this be frustrating for you?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll deal with me after you."

"Maybe I could paw—"

"No, Fluff."

"OK," she said quietly. Then she moaned and stroked her thighs.

"Judy!" he cried. And then he leapt to his feet and scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the cave and onto her mattress.

"Oh, Nick!" she sighed.

They lay next to each other and began necking, like two crazy teenagers. Then she writhed against him, panting his name. So he undid her bra and squeezed her breasts in both paws.

"Yes, Nick, yes, yes!" she gasped.

"You want some foxpaw?" he whispered in her ear.

She laughed and then moaned, "Yes, please, Nick!"

"OK, Fluff." He moved one paw down her smooth stomach and then gently tugged down her sensible blue panties. He looked at her crotch and asked, "Would you be offended if I said you're cute everywhere?"

She laughed very throatily. "Not under the circumstances."

He actually thought she was beautiful everywhere, but he was afraid to say that. So he kissed her again, and moved his paw between her legs.

...

When Judy had pleasured herself the night before, she had experienced it both as the body being touched and the paw doing the touching. But now it was a paw she had no control over, beyond making barely coherent requests like, "Ooo, faster, Nick!" and "A little to the left, yes, like that!"

Nick stayed on the outside at first, paying particular but not exclusive attention to her clitoris. From his technique, she had the feeling she was not the first female he'd done this to, although probably the first rabbit. She didn't want to think about who else he'd been with, not right then. She just wanted to enjoy how good he was. And she couldn't help loudly expressing her appreciation, even if it added to his conceit.

She got more and more open, both from what he was doing to her and from Heat Off completely wearing off. Soon he had a finger in her, not too deep, just enough to tease. She should've known he would tease. She found it both wonderful and frustrating. She pushed against his paw until he gave her two fingers and went deeper. She could almost pretend it was a penis. Not his of course, that would be wrong. Just a faceless penis.

"Come on, Sweetheart," Nick murmured in her ear. He'd used the term sarcastically before. This time it wasn't quite a term of endearment, but it wasn't condescending either. "Let yourself come, so we can both get some sleep."

She felt like she did when assigned parking duty and a goal of 100 tickets. She came all right. In fact, it was multiple.

"Damn, you're a horny little bunny, aren't you? Judy, you're going to break off my arm if you keep doing that."

"Sorry." She stopped thrusting against his paw.

"Better?"

"Sort of."

"You want more?"

"Well, can you squeeze one of my breasts while you're doing it?"

"I could do that." And he did, as well as whispering things like, "You're going to wear your poor husband out" and "This is what happens when you go against Nature."

She laughed at that one. "Nick, you wear sunglasses and use a phone."

"I meant bottling up the female bunnies' apparent insatiability."

"What do you want us to do, Nick? Overrun the earth?"

"That would be interesting. _Night of the Lepus_ as a porno."

"I meant rabbits in general."

"Oh. Can we discuss this at another time?"

"Yeah. Let's concentrate on what we're doing."

"If you like." And then his paw between her legs got very fast, while the one on her chest tweaked her nipples.

This time she came hard and uncontrollably. And then she yawned.

"There we go."

"But what about you?" 

"Um, I'm gonna step outside." He kissed her on the nose. "Don't wait up for me."

She would've liked to but sleep was now overtaking her as unarguably as estrus had an hour before.


	16. Sixteenth Stop: Steam Street

"We're getting pretty good at this."

Nick shrugged. "Well, I don't think we could make a living at it, but we're improving."

They were making their way in between the islands again, but narrower gaps, the actual canals of the canal district. They wanted to get some idea what had happened to a local who had drowned. He was a gondolier in fact, so he'd known his way around boats and the canals. He was a goat named Billy Capri.

They weren't confident enough to take a gondola out themselves, but their rowboat followed one of Capri's coworkers, Panina Zed, along the route that the gondola guild preferred. Zed had told them that Capri's death had surprised everyone, since it was at daybreak, before gondola service started, and he'd been doing the job for twenty years. He had seemed to follow this route though, judging by where he ended up, off the coast of Steam Street. The drowning having occurred in the South End of the CD, on the border of the Rainforest District, was another difference from the other incidents, and it was possible that it was unrelated, but they wanted to follow every lead, just in case.

"It happened just about here," said Panina. She was a middle-aged chimpanzee who had a faint Simian accent and wore a Sonny Bonobo button pinned to the black-and-white-striped shirt of her gondolier blouse.

"Thank you," Judy said.

The customers that Zed had brought there were going to disembark and explore for an hour, which would give Judy and Nick a chance to look around as well, on water and land.

They sat in the rowboat in silence for a minute and then Nick said, "Well, Fluff, I think—"

And then her phone rang.

"Is it the Chief?" They hadn't heard from Bogo since they left and they hadn't contacted him since they were still waiting till they had something definite to report.

"No, it's my Muzzletime ring-tone."

"I really wish they wouldn't call it that."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Muzzle as in snout." She fished her phone out of her pocket.

"Yeah, I know, Carrots. I just think—"

"Oh, cheese and crackers! It's my parents."

He was tempted to say that it was a good thing they hadn't called the night before, but he and Judy never talked during the day about their nights in the cave. Besides, she couldn't get a signal that far out. So he just said, "Are you going to take it?"

"I'd better." She tapped her phone and put a big grin on. "Hi, Mom and Dad!"

Nick could hear a male voice say, "Judy, why didn't you answer last night?"

"Last night? Oh, the signal's not very strong where I am."

"Where are you?" asked a female voice.

"Oh, the Rainforest District." Well, it wasn't quite a lie, and she probably didn't want to tell her parents about the CD, although it was possible that its reputation wasn't known as far away as the Burrows.

"Are you on a case?" Mrs. Hopps asked.

"No, I'm just enjoying the weekend off. That's why I'm not in uniform."

"Oh, good," said her father, sounding relieved.

"Is that a rowboat?" her mother asked.

"Uh, yes, I'm learning to row."

"Oh, be careful out there!" said her father.

"I will."

"Are you rowing by yourself?" her mother said.

"Uh, no. I'm with my friend, Nicky."

"Oh, tell her we say hi," said Mrs. Hopps.

"So, Jude the Dude, when are we going to meet this partner of yours?"

"Oh, soon."

Nick crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Um, Dad, Mom, I've got to get back to rowing. Talk to you soon."

"Have fun!" they both cried before she tapped out.

"Nicky?"

"Mr. Big calls you Nicky."

"Yeah, but you don't."

"Well, no, not usually."

He shook his head. "You told them I'm a girl?"

"No. I just, well, I let them think that you are."

"I'm guessing they don't know I'm a fox either."

"No, but I'm going to tell them."

"I thought they were prejudiced against foxes."

"They used to be, but now they work with Gideon Gray."

"Oh, yes, Gideon. When are you going to invite me to your warren so I can have some more of his delicious pies?"

"Nick, look, I will tell them about you. I just didn't want them to make assumptions. You know, bringing a male friend home."

"Uh huh."

She blushed. "Well, you said last night was a, well, a friendly thing. But it's complicated our relationship. I don't know exactly who we are anymore."

"You're Jude the Dude. I'm Nicky."

She shook her head.

"We can talk about this later. We are investigating a possible crime scene here."

"Right." She took out her notepad and pen. "OK, first of all, why did Mr. Capri take a gondola out so early in the morning? Or late at night."

"Maybe he had a customer who paid him extra for it. And then the customer threw him out of the gondola. And then the customer swam to shore."

"But Zed said there's no record of him having an appointment then."

"Maybe he wasn't going to report it to the company. He might've just pocketed the amount."

"So why would a customer drown him?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing it was premeditated instead of a spur of the moment act. Maybe a hit-mammal?"

She nodded. "Could be. Or it is possible that for some reason he was out here on his own?"

"And then his boat overturned?"

"Maybe. Just because he was experienced that doesn't mean he couldn't have had an accident."

"True. I wonder if he was wearing his gondolier outfit."

"Maybe not if he was moonlighting, or on his own. Does it make a difference?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe the ribbon fell off his hat and he dived in after it."

She laughed. "I don't think so."

"We can't rule out anything, Hopps."

To his surprise, she blushed and he wondered if she was applying those words to the two of them. Well, they had to rule out some things, but it wasn't the time or place to define terms.

"Come on, Carrots. Let's take a look around Steam Street."

This area, as the name suggested, was very steamy, the condensation of the CD and the Rainforest meeting and creating a mist.

"I wonder if the visibility is bad around dawn."

"Good thinking, Fluff. Maybe it rolled out over the water and he couldn't see too well."

"But he must've known what it would be like."

"Not if he'd never been here that early before."

"So what was he doing here so early?"

He shook his head. They were going round and round in circles on this. What if they gathered a bunch of clues which didn't add up to anything useful?

"Tujunga," she murmured, pronouncing it correctly this time.

"Huh?"

"I was just thinking of Tujunga and Vine. They intersect but, going South from Steam Street, there's a train stop between Tujunga and Vine. I remember from the map you showed me."

"Yeah, Canopy Lane. On the Green Line, but the Pink Line doesn't stop there."

"So how does Tujunga do that?"

"It's a very twisty road. Sometimes, on foot or by car, you have to go West to go South on it, and if you don't know your way around the Rainforest, you can get lost."

She nodded and he knew she was thinking that this case was a lot like that. And maybe she was also thinking that their relationship was like that, too.


	17. Seventeenth Stop: The Selkie Guest House, Part Three

"Oh, Nick, that's so good!" She could feel herself clenching around his fingers. They were back in the cave, lying on her mattress, and the pill had worn off about half an hour ago.

"Yeah? Then how come you're not falling asleep?"

She hesitated and then said, "Nick, maybe we should mate."

He withdrew his paw. "I told you, that's not happening."

"Nick, it doesn't have to mean anything. Or it can if you want. But you're my best friend and I trust you."

He shook his head. "I'll talk to you about it when you're more rational. When you're not thinking with this." He tickled her clitoris.

"MMMM!"

"See?"

"Nick, it's just, this is so frustrating, and it must be even worse for you."

He scooted away and shook his head. "I think I'm just going to have to eat you."

She stared at him in horror. "Nick!"

"Oh, Fluff, I didn't mean— Look, I would never do anything to hurt you, OK?"

"OK," she said quietly.

Then he scooted back and whispered into her ear, "I meant this, down there." And then he gently but intently kissed the inside of her ear.

She shivered, imagining his mouth between her legs. "That would feel wonderful!"

"You'd like that, Judy?" he murmured, starting to lick her ear, too.

"I think so, I've never—" She'd never even necked before last night, but she didn't know how to admit that without him making fun of her for it. He was still Nick, even if he was more amorous than she'd ever imagined.

"I bet you taste good down there. Like chicken."

"Nick!" she scolded and then tickled his ribs. They ended up wrestling and he pinned her. She wasn't frightened though, just nervous.

"You are a cute meter maid," he said, grinning down at her.

"I'm hoping to make supervisor one day."

"Hang in there."

They kissed. She was aware of his weight on her but she was strong and she liked supporting him like this. She wondered what it would be like to be fur against fur, but he for some reason didn't want to be naked with her. She thought about teasing him about maybe having an embarrassing tattoo, but what if he really did?

Then he supported himself and scooted down her body, kissing her neck, her collarbone, and down to her chest. She arched her back to make her breasts stand out more. He nuzzled them before kissing and then licking, his tongue playing with the nipples as his paws cupped her breasts from underneath.

"Oh, Nick!" she sighed.

He looked up at her with half-shut eyelids. And then he kissed down to her stomach. "So flat and smooth," he murmured.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"And this," he moved himself further down till his head was hovering over her crotch, "is very nice."

"Thank you," she said again. She spread her legs for him, still feeling nervous but the estrus helping her get past that.

"Relax, Fluff, I think you might like this."

He started by giving her light, tickling kisses on her inner thighs. Then he spiraled in to the center. He gently rubbed her clitoris as he licked her inner lips apart.

"OH, NICK!"

His eyes flickered up to her and their expression was somewhere in between a conceited _What did I tell you?_ and a humble _Is this right? Does this work on bunnies?_

She slowly rolled her hips, wanting to feel more of his mouth but not wanting to hurt him. She thought for a moment of how different this would be with a rabbit, no snout. But she was glad Nick was her first.

And she wanted to mate with him. She wasn't in love with him but she did love him and he was so good at this, and where was the harm? They were both single and they wouldn't be hurting anyone. OK, she wouldn't be a virgin on her wedding night, but that wasn't very important to her. Why didn't Nick want to mate with her? Was it because she was a bunny? Or did he object to mating outside of marriage? That would be an oddly moralistic position for him to take, considering how he'd been much more at ease than she was at the Mystic Springs Oasis. And he was the one who had suggested that he pleasure her.

Well, he didn't want to talk about it that night, so she would just focus on how good this felt.

...

Oh, she was sweet! He'd never tasted anyone like her. And he wasn't responding as predator to prey but as male to female. The more aroused she became, the better she tasted, the stronger her scent. He'd been aware of her scent the night before, but not like this, not with his snout in her folds. And his ears pivoted, drinking in her cries and gasps and— _Oh, Fluff! You're killing me! Stop crying my name!_

Damn, how he wished he could mate with her! He'd thought at different points that they could date, keep it innocent. She was so pure and wouldn't expect more than kissing. That was before she went off the Heat Off. It was too late now.

What was he going to do? Keep pleasuring her until they solved this case? Well, he could think of worse things to do with his nights, but what about after? Would they just go back to their platonic but strong friendship?

He tried to concentrate on her, tried not to worry about afterwards. He focused on her bunny cunny and the way her strong thighs managed to squeeze him without choking him. She came and he loved the taste of that even more.

He looked up at her with half-shut eyes, wondering if she wanted more or if that was it for tonight. He was disappointed when she yawned.

Then she said, "Thank you, Nick. You really are almost as wonderful as you think you are."

He tickled her smooth belly and she giggled.

He wanted to snuggle with her, if she wouldn't mind his erection. He wasn't going to rub up against her. He just wanted to hold her close.

But she said, "Goodnight, Nick. See you in the morning."

"Yeah, see ya, Fluff." He carefully got up from her mattress and went outside into the serious moonlight, as David Doe-Eye had once called it.

...

She waited till they were eating the fish she caught the next morning before she said, "So, why don't you want to mate with me?"

He coughed for half a minute. "Fishbone," he gasped.

"You want me to hit your back?"

"No, I think I got it." He spat a small bone into the fire, which sputtered. "Sorry about that."

"That's OK. You said we could talk about this when I was more 'rational.' I've taken my pill and I still have about eleven hours to go on it."

"All right. If you want that conversation, we'll have that conversation. What do you know about fox mating habits?"

She blushed. She wondered if they used weird positions or something.

"I mean, Carrots, finding a mate."

"Well, it's like for other mammals, isn't it?"

"For some, yes. But you see, one of our, let's call it one of our quirks, is that we mate for life."

"Well, so do rabbits."

"Uh huh. So if we had mated last night, we would be looking at spending the next 40 to 50 years together."

"Oh." She hadn't really thought about that.

"And I like you a lot, Fluff. But I'm not ready for that kind of commitment."

She thought of something. "So, wait. That means—"

"Yeah, it means my deadbeat dad is not a very good fox."

"Oh, Nick." She hadn't considered that aspect, but it must've hurt him and his mother even more to be abandoned. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK, I'm used to it. But I realize that it's not something Stuart Hopps would've done."

"Well, no."

He looked at her. "That wasn't what you were thinking, was it?"

"Well, no. I just wondered if you were, well."

"A virgin?" He shrugged. "It depends on your definition. I've had a few girlfriends, all canines, mostly foxes. While you bunnies are holding paws at the malt shop till you can go crazy on your honeymoons, we foxes know how to have fun without technically mating."

She ignored the swipe against her culture. "And you just unselfishly pleasure the females without asking for anything in return?"

He laughed and shook his head. "No, Fluff. The lady foxes, if they're so inclined, will return the favor."

"Then how about if I—?"

"I don't trust you when you're in heat, Hopps. You get your paws on me and you'll be jumping me in a New Pork minute."

"I do have some self-control, Nicholas," she said huffily.

"Uh huh. Besides, let's say I gave in to your insatiable lust for me."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes?"

"Well, I would like to have kits someday."

She had not expected him to go in that direction. "You would?"

"Hey, you saw what a great dad I was to Finnick."

"Yes, Father of the Year."

"Well, if I mate with you, then we can't have children. In fact, I probably wouldn't be able to have them with anyone because I would be committed, body and soul, to you. And that's a lot to ask from me just for one night, or several nights, of fun."

"Oh."

"And you would be cheating yourself and your potential future husband out of your potential 365 offspring."

"I've never wanted a big family. I mean, I love my brothers and sisters, but I did grow up in a crowd. And I really love being a police officer, and that would be kind of hard to do with that many kits."

"You call them kits, too?"

"Yeah, or kittens."

"Well, I guess we have something in common."

"Yes."

"So, Judith, this is for the best for both of us."

She bit her lip and then after a moment said, "Maybe I should go back on the Heat Off. Twice a day I mean."

He looked disappointed and then he shrugged. "Yeah, you've already gained us, what, three days? That will help with the case."

"Right. It'll be easier to focus, round the clock."

"Now you're being rational."

"Yes. I'm going to go inside and get my notepad and pen so we can head out on the next stage of the investigation."

"Good idea. I'll put out the fire."

"Ranger Scout," she teased.

He gave her the scout salute. She smiled a little. Then she went into the cave and let a couple tears roll down her cheeks. She felt like she was losing something more than "nights of fun," and she had to remind herself that they were just going back to what they had before.

... 

Nick stirred the wood and ash with a spare stick. Then he cupped his paws underwater until they filled up. He returned to the campfire and put it out. He tried to focus on his task, not on the conversation they'd just had. He supposed it was inevitable that they would discuss these things eventually, especially after their physical intimacy. They had irreconcilable differences, physical, biological differences. Yeah, they could play around together, but they couldn't let this get too serious. He was stupid to almost forget that. They would be better off going back to what they were before, and trying to block out the memories of the past few nights.


	18. Eighteenth Stop: Canna Lily Avenue

They were almost back in the CD when Judy's phone rang. 

"Tell Mom and Dad I say hi."

She rolled her eyes. It wasn't her Muzzletime ring-tone, just the regular ring-tone. "I don't recognize the number." She nonetheless answered. It could be someone who could give them information. "Hello? This is Officer Hopps."

"Hi, Officer Hopps. This is Sealia Selkie."

"Oh, hi, Ms. Selkie."

Now Nick rolled his eyes.

"I wanted you to know I've set up an appointment for you with the District Coroner."

Judy blinked. It sounded like a threat. "You have?"

"Yes, Walter Russell, for 11 a.m. He's been there thirty years and he has records on everyone's who died in the CD."

"Oh, yes, thank you!" She felt stupid that they hadn't considered talking to him before. He might turn out to be no more helpful than the District Manager, but it was worth a try.

"No problem. He's an old friend of my family and he'd like to help."

"Great! Let me get a pen." Judy dropped her oar into the boat so that she could hold the phone with one paw and her paper notepad and pen with the other, although that was still a little awkward.

Nick sighed, dropped his own oar, and gestured for her to hand him the pen and notepad. She did and then asked Sealia for the address, which Judy relayed to Nick. She thanked Sealia again and then clicked off.

Nick looked down at the notepad. "And who's at 3443 Canna Lily Avenue on Bromeliad Island?"

"The District Coroner, Walter Russell."

"Let me guess, he's a walrus."

"She didn't say."

He looked down again. "Eleven, huh? You want to get brunch in the meantime?"

"You're not full up on fish?" she teased. She'd caught as much as she could, but it wasn't enough for two.

"Uh, no. Do you want to try Magawitz's again?"

"We don't have any more coupons," she teased.

"I'll treat you."

"Thank you, yes."

They docked the canoe and then made their way to the oyster house. She wasn't that hungry, so she just had a salad. Nick had pan-fried oysters.

As they ate, he said, "So, any ideas what you want to ask Walter?"

Their waitress was passing by and she said, "Oh, do you want to talk to Wally?"

"Uh, yeah," Judy said in surprise.

"Let me go get him."

Judy looked at Nick and he shook his head. Was the coroner a customer? She hadn't noticed any walruses when they came in, but maybe he wasn't a walrus.

After a minute, the waitress brought out a beaver in a chef's hat and apron. "This is Wally Ward," she said.

"Uh, pleased to meet you," Judy said.

"Are you enjoying your meal?" the beaver asked.

"Uh, yeah. But we meant a different Walter," Nick said. "Walter Russell."

"Oh. You're going to talk to the coroner?"

"Yes, we're with the ZPD." Judy flashed her badge. "Investigating a very complicated case."

"Oh. Well, good luck to you."

"Thank you."

"Uh, can I get you folks anything else? On the house."

"I would kind of like dessert," Nick admitted. Judy smiled. He wasn't cheap, but he wouldn't say no to something free if there didn't seem to be any strings attached.

"Wally makes the best seaberry pie!" the waitress enthused.

"I'll have a slice. Well, maybe two."

"Right away, Sir."

After the waitress and the cook left, Judy said, "I don't know what I want to ask the coroner. Maybe if the bodies had anything in common."

"Like injuries?"

She winced. "Yes," she said softly.

"Hey, Fluff, you don't have to go. I'm not squeamish."

"I'm not either! It's just I've never been to a morgue or anything like that." She knew she would have to get used to it, as a cop. She would have to toughen up.

"Well, I don't think we'll be down in the morgue. It'll probably be in his nice, clean office."

She nodded. But she still hoped that Nick would ask most of the questions.

When the pie came, Nick said, "You want one of the slices, Carrots?"

"No, I'm full."

"OK." He took a bite. "Mmm, this is really good. You sure you don't want any?"

"Next time."

He shook his head, like he was thinking that he hoped they wouldn't be in the CD long enough to keep coming back to this restaurant.

After he paid the pie-less bill, it was almost time to meet Mr. Russell. Luckily, his office was only a couple blocks away.

They showed their badges at the reception desk and then were told to go right in. Nick smirked a little when Mr. Russell indeed turned out to be a walrus, an elderly walrus with a big mustache and small round glasses.

"Officer Hopps, Officer Wilde?" Mr. Russell said.

"Yes, Sir. Thank you for making time to see us."

"Of course," he said in a deep, rumbly voice. "These drownings have been going on for decades and if it's due to foul play, I'd like to see a stop put to it."

"D-d-decades?" Judy gasped.

"Well, at least a quarter of a century."

"Yeah, but this is the Canal District," Nick said.

The walrus shook his head. "I mean ones that fit the profile, at dawn and so forth. By the way, one of the first was a fox."

"Twenty-five years ago?" Judy said quietly.

"Yes, I think so." The walrus got up from his chair and went over to his file cabinet. He pulled out the top drawer and started rummaging through it. "Yes, here we go. A photo of that victim."

Judy asked, "You keep photos?"

"Of course. Am I supposed to be keeping the bodies themselves?"

"Can I see it?" Nick asked hoarsely, sinking into a low chair.

"Of course." Mr. Russell handed it over.

Judy hoped it wouldn't be too graphic. She forced herself to look over Nick's shoulder. Then she gasped. Except for the big furdo that showed this was indeed taken a quarter of a century ago, the victim was a dead ringer— Judy was glad she hadn't said that out loud— the victim looked remarkably like Nick. The same half-smile, the same half-shut eyes.

"Do you want to see the photos of the rest of the body?" the coroner asked.

"Uh, no, the head shot's good enough, thank you," Nick said, handing it back.

Judy wanted to talk to Nick about the fox victim, but she couldn't, not in front of a stranger, and not while they were on duty. She lightly patted his shoulder.

"I won't say that it's been happening regularly all this time," the walrus said, as if oblivious to what he'd just revealed. "But this recent wave of drownings, pardon the pun, reminded me of that old case."

"Do you know what caused it? I mean, was he swimming or boating?" Nick asked, as if he had no connection to his fellow fox.

"Surfing actually. I know, it was early in the morning, but that didn't stop the swimmers or the boaters either."

"Was he alone?" Nick asked.

"Yes, although some other surfers, animals who didn't know him, found his body when they arrived on the shore."

"Which shore?" Nick wondered.

"The beach on Fig Road. The one that all the tourists like, by the train station."

Judy expected Nick to ask more questions about the fox, but instead he asked, "Were there any injuries the victims had in common? You know, blows to the head or similar?"

"Not that I recall. Maybe in the case of the elderly squirrel whose sailboat hit her when she fell in."

Judy tried not to wince. She made herself say, "Well, if you think of anything later, here's my card."

"And mine," Nick chimed in for a change.

"Of course. Good luck to you."

After they left the office and were back out on Canna Lily, she began, "Nick...."

"Come on, Fluff, we're going to Fig Road."


	19. Nineteenth Stop: Fig Road

For a long time, they just silently stared out into the waves, watching surfers. Then Judy took his paw and said, "Nick, do you think that was him? Your father?"

He sighed. "It looks like it, Fluff."

"How do you feel about it?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Part of me is happy he's dead. I don't mean that the way it sounds. I mean because it means he didn't abandon us, although I do wonder why my mom never happened to mention he was on a surfing safari."

"Maybe she didn't know."

"But what about when they found the body? Wouldn't it have been reported on the news? 'An unidentified red male fox, in his late 20s or early 30s, drowned off the coast of Fig Road, sometime early this morning.' "

"Maybe she never saw the report."

"Yeah? If my mate had disappeared, I'd be watching the news around the clock."

She squeezed his paw. "I know."

"I wonder, this sounds crazy but, well, maybe my mom knew and she preferred to have me to think he was alive and no good."

"Why would she do that?"

"So I wouldn't grieve for him." He wasn't sure if he could grieve now. It had been twenty-five years and he was a lot tougher than he was as a kit.

"If you want to cry now, Nick, I'll understand."

"I'll take a rain check on that, thanks."

He watched the surfers some more, thinking about random things like how his dad had managed such a big furdo when it got wet. He was looking for some kind of closure but it wasn't coming. And then he made up his mind. "Judy, I know we're in the middle of a case, but how would you feel about me taking the rest of the day off? After all, it's Sunday and we've been working since Monday."

"Do you want to just hang out on the beach? Not investigate? We could do that."

He shook his head. "Look, Fluff, I want to go see my mom." He wasn't sure if he could tell his mother what he'd found out or ask her what she knew, but he needed to see her. Never mind that it would probably be painful for both of them.

"I'll go with you!"

He squeezed Judy's paw. "You're sweet, Whiskers. But this is something I have to do on my own."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now. I'll catch the train down and come back tomorrow."

"Well, OK, if this is something you need to do."

"It is."

She let go of his paw. "Then we should head back to the cave so you can get your suitcase."

"Yeah, OK." He only needed one change of clothes but he probably should take the case just in, well, in case. Then he'd return to the case, the drowning case, and hopefully be able to focus on it. He wasn't sure what his father's drowning did to the investigation. Maybe it wasn't related. But what if it was? He would want to find the killer, if there was one, more than ever, but he knew he couldn't go insane with revenge. He would have to be a professional about this, ignore the personal side.

They didn't talk much as they rowed back to their cave. Nick was trying not to think of all the things he wanted to say to his mother. He was trying to concentrate on the rowing. He did do the math in his head. From where they were, it would take them about an hour and a half to get back to the cave. He could pack quickly, maybe be ready to head out again at 2 p.m. Then another hour to row back to where he could catch the train. Since it was Sunday, the trains weren't running as frequently. And he would have to take the Green Line to the south end, Vine Street. Then he'd switch over to the Pink Line for Harbour Street. If they let him, maybe he could have dinner with her. It had been a long time for that. And he'd sleep in a chair if he had to, and maybe have breakfast with her. It'd been a long time for that, too.

Meanwhile, Judy, poor Judy, would have a couple hours to investigate on her own before she'd have to head back to the cave. He felt bad about that, including that she'd have to row so far on her own, and again the next day when she'd pick him up. (He'd check the return schedule, text her when he knew which train he'd catch. Hopefully she'd be somewhere where she could receive a text.)

"Listen, Fluff. Why don't you just drop me off somewhere in the CD and I'll catch the next train? I don't really need my suitcase and it's silly for you to have to do so much rowing."

"I don't mind. I want to help you."

"Thank you," he said quietly. She really was sweet. He'd repay her someday, somehow.

He felt overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the past week or so. Graduating from the academy. Renting an apartment. Starting a new job and having his first arrest be an old friend. Going to a Gazelle concert. Being handed this big, confusing case. Growing closer to Judy, and not just physically. And now finding out about his father, and needing to have the details filled in on that. He felt dizzy just thinking about it all.

In fact, his head was spinning and his stomach didn't feel too good either. He wanted to lie down but they were still a good fifteen minutes' row from their cave. That is if he could row. He closed his eyes, hoping that the dizziness would go away, but that just disoriented him more. He leaned forward, planning to put his head between his knees. But he tumbled forward, heard a splash, and then everything went black.


	20. Twentieth Stop: The Islet of Langerpaws

"Nick?" she asked quietly. He was swaying a little, more than the rocking of the boat. She would've thought he was clowning around, but he was hardly in the mood for that. Then he closed his eyes and leaned forward. She said his name again but he didn't seem to hear her.

Then he toppled forward and she watched frozen in shock. It wasn't till she heard the splash that she shouted his name.

What had happened? Was he drowning himself? Was he that upset about his father? Why? Why would he do this to himself, and in front of her? Didn't he know how much he meant to her?

She shook herself, disgusted with the selfishness of her thoughts. Maybe he was doing this deliberately or maybe it was an accident, but she was wasting precious time thinking about it. She dived overboard, determined to rescue him. It didn't occur to her till she had dived down and grabbed him under the arms that he was much larger than she was. And she had no water rescue training.

She struggled back to the surface, refusing to let go of Nick. At least he wasn't resisting her. But she almost would've preferred that he thrash around, rather than hang lifelessly, no, limply in her arms. It was a small relief when her nose reached the air again, but then she realized that she'd surfaced farther from the boat than she expected. Maybe it had drifted while they were underwater. Maybe her movements had made it drift.

What should she do? Could she swim towards the boat carrying Nick? What if it drifted further away while she tried to get to it?

She looked around. She was actually closer to a tiny island. Maybe she could make it over there, even with Nick. Then she could revive him and when they both felt rested enough, they could figure out how to get to the boat.

She swam as well as she could while still clinging to Nick. She tried to remember what she'd looked up about drowning days ago. One thing was that the victim might cling to the rescuer, but Nick was unconscious. She could hear him breathing. He wasn't dead. But he would be, they both would be, if she couldn't make it.

The islet seemed miles away and she kept thinking she couldn't go on, but she did because she had to. At last, she could feel ground under her feet and she dragged him onto the shore.

"Nick, oh, Nick, please be all right!" she whispered, trying not to cry.

She racked her brains to remember what to do with a drowning victim. Get the head above water. She'd done that. His whole body was above water.

She was trying to figure out, had he become unconscious underwater, or was it becoming unconscious that had caused him to plunge in? Would it make a difference in recovery?

He didn't seem to have any spinal or other injuries, although it was difficult to tell. She was almost afraid to touch him. She didn't want to make things worse.

She decided to risk gently turning his head to the side. It seemed to be the right thing to do, because water poured out of his mouth and nose. She hoped he hadn't swallowed much.

Then she carefully turned his head so his muzzle pointed skyward. Then she gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation. It was nothing like kissing him. He was completely passive and unaware.

Afterwards, she checked his pulse and put her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat. They both sounded stronger and more regular than she had hoped.

She wished she could get him to a hospital, to be sure he was all right. She took her phone out of her pocket. Unlike when they'd flushed themselves out of the Cliffside Asylum, she hadn't had time to put her phone in a protective baggie. She wasn't sure how water-resistant it was. She couldn't get any kind of signal when she now tried it, although that might've been because they weren't in a service area.

What should she do? Maybe when Nick was recovered enough to be left on his own, she could try to swim out to the rowboat and either tow it to the islet or by herself row back to the CD and get help. How long would any of that take?

What if they were out there for days? What would they do about food and drinking water? The island wasn't much larger than an island in a comic strip, although it had a clump of trees rather than one solitary tree with a coconut or two. Perhaps it might rain, which would give them drinking water, but the grove wouldn't provide much shelter. As for food, perhaps she could figure out a way to fish with the items in their pockets, like string and car keys. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, but she had to consider it.

And there was another thing to consider. Her Heat Off pill would wear off around sunset, about four hours away. She would not want to experience estrus when she needed to focus on helping Nick recover. She'd been debating whether to skip the pill that night, since he would be away and she could just play with herself. But now she didn't have a choice. The pill bottle was back in the cave. Maybe she'd row back to the cave once she felt Nick could be on his own, and then she'd come back with their suitcases and the fishing poles. That would help them survive longer, and the cave was much closer than the CD was.

She was going around and around, unable to decide on anything. And then Nick sat up a little and coughed. It was a racking cough that normally would've scared her, but right then it was like music.

"Nick!"

"Judy?" he asked faintly when the coughing subsided.

"Yes, Nick, I'm here."

He opened his green eyes and said, "You saved my life again, Fluff."

She smiled a little. "That's what we do in the ZPD."

"Yeah? I haven't saved anyone yet."

"Well, you're still a rookie."

He chuckled. "Yeah. I hope I never have to return the favor, but if I do, I will."

"You just concentrate on recovering."

He looked around. "Where are we?"

"A little island maybe fifteen minutes from our cave."

"The Islet of Langerpaws."

"You must be feeling better if you're punning."

"A little better."

"Nick, what happened?" He wasn't acting like his plunge had been a suicidal urge, but even if it were, she felt like she should know.

"I'm not sure. I think it was something I ate."

"Be serious."

"I am serious, Judy. I felt light-headed all of a sudden and my stomach was unsettled."

"Like nausea?"

"No, not exactly."

"Maybe it was hunger."

"I don't know. I had a pretty big brunch, on top of the fish breakfast."

Her eyes widened. "Nick, do you think the cook at Magawitz's could've poisoned you?"

"No, not poisoned. But maybe put in some time-release drug." He shook his head. "Or is that crazy?"

"I don't know." She gasped. "Maybe it was the herrings I caught!"

"Well, they were kind of red."

"Nick."

"So why would the cook— what was his name, Wally Ward?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Why would he be get out to get me?"

"Maybe he's the murderer and he didn't want us solving the case."

"Yeah, maybe." He yawned. "Fluff, I will hash this case out with you later. But I'm still kind of woozy. I think I need to nap."

"Yes, you rest, Nick." She decided she wouldn't go anywhere. She didn't want him to wake up and find her gone. And if estrus hit her before they left the island, well, she'd wade into the water, which would be cold enough at night to cool her passion.

She watched his eyes shut and his breathing fall into the rhythm of sleep. Rest probably was the best thing for him. She wished she could lie down and sleep-cuddle with him, but she had too much on her mind. Was someone out to get Nick? Or maybe both of them? After all, Mr. Ward had made two slices of the seaberry pie after he found out that they were going to talk to the coroner. Had he served something similar to the drowning victims?

Nick's dizziness had kicked in about three hours after they ate. But the animals who had drowned had done so between five and seven in the morning. They would've had to have eaten at Magawitz's at two to four in the morning, which was highly unlikely. Perhaps this was just a coincidence.

If Mr. Ward or someone else had caused Nick's dizziness, hoping he would drown, did that animal now think Nick was dead or soon would be? Would the murderer check on them, to see that they were indeed out of the way, or that at least Nick was? Did they think she'd be so upset by Nick's death that she would just quit? She hated to think about that, but she forced herself to because she was trying to get inside the murderer's head.

Yes, the emotional little bunny would be too distraught over the loss of her partner to carry on. She'd give up on the case and maybe the ZPD wouldn't send anyone to replace them. But that was silly, because of course someone would have to investigate Nick's death. Unless it looked like an accident.

If Nick had died, accident or not, she would be more determined than ever to find out the cause. And what about his father? Had something similar happened to him twenty-five years ago? She would want to find out that out for Nick's sake.

She wondered if the autopsies showed traces of anything suspicious. Probably not a poison, but maybe some dizziness-and-or-nausea-inducing drug. But that seemed like something Mr. Russell would've pointed out to them. Perhaps the killer didn't always use whatever he used on Nick. Maybe he or she had other methods to cause drownings.

After awhile, Judy's mind quieted down. She looked out at the waves. Their boat had drifted further away from them, but she could probably swim to it if she had to. She was pretty tired herself though. Only now did it occur to her how she'd done the impossible by carrying Nick out of the water and onto land. She must've had a burst of adrenaline and not noticed.

She decided she might as well lie down and rest, too, although she knew that she should probably stay awake just in case. She reclined and then rested her head on the sand.

Nick stirred and then pulled her close. "Mmm, I love you, Fluff."

His eyes were closed. Was he talking in his sleep? Did he mean Love love, or just friendly love? She wanted to say, "I love you, too, Nick," but she wasn't sure how he'd take it if he was awake. And she wasn't sure how she'd mean it. She'd been scared of losing him, but that didn't mean she was in love, did it? She would've felt that way about any drowning victim, especially one she knew.

He opened his eyes a little. "And not just because you keep saving my life."

And then he kissed her tenderly on the mouth. A thought passed through her mind that being marooned on a desert island was a very romantic scenario, although usually not this small a desert island. She started to kiss back and then she realized that they weren't exactly alone.


	21. Twenty-First Stop: Bougainvillea Boulevard

Judy pulled away from his embrace and said, "I hear a helicopter!"

"What are you, Rodent O'Reilly?"

"You can't hear it?"

"My hearing isn't as sharp as yours."

"Oh, right. Do you think it's the good guys or the bad guys?"

"It could be bad guys that we think are good guys. But at this point, I'd rather be rescued by the bad guys than not rescued at all."

"Good point. Take off your shirt."

He blinked. "Excuse me?"

"We need to wave some cloth around as a signal."

He sighed and took off his shirt. "OK, but don't ogle me."

"I'll try to resist." She grabbed the shirt and got to her feet.

He could now hear the helicopter and when he could see it he said, "To the south."

"Thank you." She started waving the shirt around.

As the helicopter came closer, he could make out the ZPD logo on the side. "Ah, Zootopia's Finest." He wondered which officers they sent and why. He mostly hoped he wouldn't have to face Boaris Pigley.

The helicopter hovered over the islet, so Judy handed Nick his shirt back. "They're not going to try to land, are they?"

He looked around. "Where?" There was barely enough room for them and the clump of trees.

Then a rope ladder descended from the helicopter. She looked at him and asked, "Do you think you can climb it?"

"Do I have a choice?" he said, putting his shirt on.

"You go first, so I can catch you if you fall."

He was about to say that he didn't think she could hold him, but then he remembered her super-mammal feat in saving him from drowning. This bunny was stronger than she looked. "OK."

He climbed slowly, still not totally recovered of course. Rung by rung, with Hopps yelling encouragement from below as she steadied the ladder. At last his head was through the gap and he could see hooves.

"You all right, Wilde?" asked the gruff voice of McHorn.

"I've been better, but I think I'll live."

The rhino helped pull him the rest of the way up. Then Judy started climbing, quickly. It felt like only a moment later that she was in the helicopter, too.

"How did you find us?" she asked.

"Well, when you didn't respond to the Chief's call an hour ago, he sent me looking for you."

"Because I missed a phone call?"

"He knows you. You would only miss a call for a very good reason, especially during the day."

"Well," Nick said, "as you can see, we were out of the service area."

"Yeah. Do I want to know how you got here?"

"It's a very long story."

"McHorn, we need to go to a hospital and get Nick checked out."

"For what?"

"Never mind," he said quickly. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I just need some rest. McHorn, can you take us to a hotel?"

"What about the, um, guest house?" Judy asked.

"Oh, right, we need to pick up our things."

McHorn looked like he wanted to ask a lot of questions but as if he thought this wasn't really any of his business. Instead he settled on the impersonal, "Where's this guest house?"

Nick gave as good directions as he could, although he wasn't sure how far off their usual route they'd ended up. It took only a few minutes by helicopter.

"A cave?"

"Well."

"A long story, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Nick, you stay on board and I'll get the suitcases."

He knew it was unchivalrous of him but he also knew he didn't have the strength to climb up and down the rope ladder again, especially with luggage. "OK."

While Judy was gone, McHorn said, "So, uh, you guys going to Francine's maternity leave party?"

"I thought she already left." Wasn't that why Bogo had given them the case, because he couldn't assign Francine? Of course, it was hard to picture an elephant going all the places they'd gone. It wouldn't be as ridiculous as McHorn thinking he could defend Little Rodentia, but a fox and a bunny could literally fit in at more locations.

"Nah, not till this coming Friday."

"Oh, yeah, hopefully we'll be back by then."

"You close to cracking the case?"

"Closer than we were."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Is your phone working?"

"Yeah, you want me to book you a hotel?"

"That would be nice, but I was wondering if you could Zoogle narcotics that cause delayed dizziness and/or nausea, but don't necessarily leave traces in an autopsy."

"Uh, sure. That might take awhile though."

"Email it to me."

"Sure. What kind of hotel do you want?"

"Something close by but not on an island with a train station on it."

"You want to go back to the little island I found you guys on?"

"Uh, no, I'd like a roof and walls, if it's not any trouble."

"Sure." McHorn pulled up a list and it was as Judy's head popped up through the floor again that he asked, "How about the Bougainvillea Boulevard Inn?"

"What?" Judy said, handing Nick his suitcase.

"For tonight. For the two of us."

"Oh, sure, I guess so." She descended the ladder again.

"Shouldn't one of us help her?" McHorn asked.

"Nah, she likes to be independent."

McHorn shook his head and then went back to his phone. "Uh, it looks like they've got only one room, with two beds."

"That's fine."

McHorn again looked curious but he only said, "You'll pay me back, right?"

"Yeah, once Bogo reimburses us."

"You crack this case and he'll probably treat you to a suite in the Oasis Hotel."

"I look forward to it," Nick said with more confidence than he felt.

Judy came back with the other suitcase and McHorn took off for Bougainvillea Island, which was to the northwest of Banana Lane, connected by a bridge. They could cross on foot or take a cab, but that would be later.

This island was big enough to have a vacant lot where McHorn could land the helicopter. They climbed out and he handed them the suitcases. Then he wished them luck and took off.

"So, uh, where's this hotel?" Judy asked.

Nick checked his phone, which was working. He had a message from McHorn, the forwarding of their reservation, with a map attached. "We can walk there from here."

"Nick, don't push yourself. We can get a cab. Or a bus or something."

"I told you, I'm fine, Fluff. But if I faint or anything, I'm sure you can carry me."

She looked like she was going to punch his arm and then thought better of it.

He took her arm, only partly for support. "Come on, this way."

They made it to the hotel, which was typically CD seedy but would do for overnight. "We have a reservation, under McHorn."

The desk clerk glanced at both of them and seemed to realize that neither looked like a rhinoceros, but he was probably used to mammals making reservations under false names. "Certainly, Sir, here's your key."

Judy waited for her key, so Nick coughed and said, "Uh, come with me, Fluff, and I'll explain."

The desk clerk winked at them, but Nick tried to ignore it. He led Judy over to the elevator, which surprisingly was functional rather than decorative.

After they got in and the doors shut, she said, "We're sharing a room?"

"Yeah, but separate beds. I figured you were used to that by now."

She laughed and shook her head. "I hope it at least has a bathroom."

"Let's not raise our expectations too high."

It did have a bathroom, which he chivalrously let her use first. When it was his turn, he used the toilet and then the shower. He let the water run over his fur for a long time, trying to remove all traces of the salt water and the sand.

Then he hesitated but decided he should masturbate while he had the chance. She would be back on Heat Off but he might get aroused just sharing a bedroom with her. He thought about kissing her on the islet. She'd started to kiss back, but then McHorn came along.

Nick suddenly remembered his confession of love, a confession that she had not returned. What was he thinking? He'd barely been awake and he wasn't really himself. She must've known that and decided not to hold him to it. That was good of her. Not every female would've done that. But part of him wished she'd not just let it go.

Well, they could talk about it when the case was wrapped up. For now, he was just going to have some Nick-time.

After awhile, Judy knocked and asked, "Nick, are you OK?"

He wished he could go to the door, open it, and pull her into the shower with him. But it wasn't the moment. So he yelled back, "Yeah, just enjoying the hot water."

"Don't use it all up."

"I'll try not to."

As quietly as he could, he finished up, imagining it was inside her. Logically, he knew that that would be as good as a proposal in terms of commitment. But it would feel **so good!**


	22. Twenty-Second Stop:  Plumeria Place

Judy watched part of a _Zoo's the Boss?_ episode while she waited for Nick to get out of the bathroom. It was thirty years old and it had Panthera's mother, Meowna Cougarson, nudging her towards Tommy, who used to play for the Tigers but now was the housekeeper. Two things occurred to Judy as she watched. One was that the show was about an opposites-attract couple tempted to get together, despite their different backgrounds, and there were a lot of obstacles in their way, from society and from themselves. The other was that Nick's father had probably still been alive when this first aired.

She wondered how he was dealing with the news about his father. It had been just a few hours ago that they'd found out, although a lot had happened since. She figured he probably didn't want to go see his mother now. He had the chance to have McHorn drop him off at Harbour Street, but he'd insisted on continuing on with this case.

When Nick emerged from the bathroom, he was dressed but with a towel over his shoulders. He sat in a chair and asked, "So, Carrots, what's the game plan?"

She clicked off the TV. "Well, we seem to have a suspect, the cook at Magawitz's Oyster House."

He nodded. "Yeah, Wally Ward. So what's his motive?"

"For tampering with your food or with the other animals' food?"

"Both?"

"Well, maybe you annoyed him."

"Me? Everyone loves me."

She was about to say something sarcastic back, but then she thought again of his confession of love, the one she hadn't known how to answer. She blushed a little.

He didn't seem to notice. Instead he got his phone and checked it. "No word from McHorn yet."

"McHorn?"

"Yeah, I asked him to check on drugs that would cause dizziness and nausea hours after eating."

"Oh, right. Yeah, I was thinking about that earlier, but the timing was off. It seemed to take three hours to kick in for you, but that would mean that the other animals would've had to have eaten in the middle of the night to be affected at dawn."

"Maybe they got take-out and ate it later?"

"Yes, that's a possibility." She took out her pen and notepad to write that down.

"Hey, Fluff, can I ask you something?"

"What, Nick?" She hoped he wasn't going to ask her about the love confession.

"Why do you use paper for your notes?"

"I don't know. It just feels more police-like. Plus I can surreptitiously tape shady characters."

He chuckled. "Yeah."

"Whatever he put in your food, if he did, it must be something that wouldn't show up on the autopsies."

"Yeah, I was thinking that, too. Hopefully McHorn can come up with something. But meanwhile, I think you need to have a little chat with Eucalypta."

"Who?"

"Eucalypta, our koala waitress."

Judy was embarrassed to admit, "I didn't even notice she was a koala."

Nick shook his head. "You've got to notice everything if you want to be a good cop."

"Well, it's good that there are two of us, so you can notice what I don't."

"Yeah, and so that you can save my tail every once in awhile."

She smiled a little. "Yes, well."

"Getting back to Eucalypta, or Calypta as her nametag said—"

"Wait, why are you assuming that's short for 'Eucalypta'?"

"I've met a few koalas. They love eucalyptus leaves."

"Yes, but maybe it's inspired by 'calypso' or something."

"Maybe." Nick seemed to be looking something up. After a minute, he held his phone so she could see.

She read aloud, "Eucalypta Karbor, 4224 Plumeria Place."

He turned the phone around and typed something else. "Uh huh. Plumeria is on Bromeliad Island."

"Nick, what if she's at work right now? We don't want Wally Ward to know we're on to him."

"We also don't want him knowing that I'm alive. Carrots, I hate to ask this, but can you go talk to her by yourself? And can you play the grieving friend?"

"I don't understand."

"We don't know what she knows. She may be in on it, or she may be afraid to tell you anything. But she's our best hope for a witness. She might open up to you if she thinks you're upset about me drowning. Oh, and we're going to need another rowboat."

"Another rowboat?" Judy still wasn't following this.

"Yeah, because you have to have gotten back to the CD somehow, and not by helicopter. You can throw a blanket over me and I can hide in the boat."

"You're going back to Bromeliad with me?"

"Of course. I just can't show up at Plumeria Place. Or the restaurant."

"Right. Nick, I don't know what to say to her."

"You'll come up with something, Sweetheart. You're pretty creative when you put your mind to it."

She remembered how she felt when she thought he might die. Yes, she could do this. Then she thought of something. "Let's say she tells me enough that I can arrest Ward. Or whoever's responsible. What then? I mean, he might be dangerous." She hated admitting that she was nervous, but she never had arrested anyone on her own, especially not a murderer.

"Call me a half hour after you get to her place. If I don't hear from you, I'll come get you. And we can have McHorn on standby as back-up if necessary."

She nodded. "It's not that I'm a coward, it's just."

"Fluff, I know as well as anyone how brave you are. I'm scared, too, especially after what they did to me today. But we have to do this."

"Right."

"Bro-fist me and then we'll go rent a rowboat."

She laughed and bro-fisted him, then they headed out, Nick tossing the towel onto the bed.

...

Judy docked the boat. It was getting dark and she hoped no one would suspect Nick was under the ratty old blanket that they'd had to rent, too. They'd agreed that she'd try the waitress's home first before her workplace. But if Judy had to, she would get take-out at Magawitz's, and then they could have the lab analyze it. She'd try to find out what time Eucalypta got off work and visit her afterwards. It was the dinner rush right now, so she might be busy, but it was possible she wasn't working that evening.

Judy made her way to Plumeria and found 4224, a run-down little house, probably one-bedroom. She went to the door and knocked.

"Who is it?" asked a suspicious female voice.

It occurred to Judy that Nick might've been wrong. This could be someone completely different than the waitress. But there was no other way to find out than to proceed. "It's Judy Hopps, from the ZPD."

"I haven't done anything!"

"No, I know, I just—" Judy made her voice break as if with grief. "I just need to talk to someone. About my partner."

The door opened a crack. "Listen, I don't want any trouble."

"I know. I just feel so helpless. He's gone! I couldn't save him!"

The door opened more. "Come in. Quick!"

So Judy went into a shabby but clean living room. "Ms. Karbor?"

"Yes, how do you know my name?"

"I asked around." Well, it was almost true.

"Oh. Look, I'm really sorry about what happened. But if I tell you anything, he'll kill me."

"Ms. Karbor, I want justice done. For Nick's sake. And if you're worried, I can offer you full protection." She would. She'd guard her around the clock if it would crack this case.

The koala hesitated and then said, "This goes back a long time, before I was even born." She looked about Judy's age although Judy couldn't always tell with other species.

"Go on," Judy said quietly.

"He doesn't want the tourists here."

"Mr. Ward doesn't like tourists?"

Calypta hesitated again before saying, "No. Crazy, isn't it? When he works for Magawitz. But every once in awhile he puts something in their food. He doesn't want to kill them directly, but it makes them drown hours later."

"How many hours later?"

"Usually about nine. He tripled the dose for your friend."

If someone ate a late dinner at the Oyster House, let's say around 8 or 9 p.m., then it would kick in at 5 or 6 a.m. That made more sense than the timeframe for Nick's drowning. Judy suddenly remembered the role she was playing and, trying to sound like she was going to cry, she exclaimed, "Why? Why did he do this to Nick?"

"You two were getting too close to solving the case. He was hoping you'd eat the pie, too, but you didn't. And then he thought maybe you'd drown trying to save the fox from drowning."

Judy shook her head. "I've never been trained in water safety. It was too big a risk."

The koala nodded. "Well, you're lucky. I mean, not lucky to lose your partner, but lucky to not die yourself."

"Lucky!" Judy scoffed.

"Yes, lucky. I suggest you clear out of here before Wally finds out that you survived. And just forget what's happened in the CD."

"Forget all those drownings? Forget Nick?"

"It's better this way."

Judy let a tear run down her face. "Maybe you're right. I won't forget Nick, but this is getting too scary."

"Yeah, be a good little bunny and hop on home."

Judy forced herself to not lash out at the koala. Instead she sobbed, "I don't like the Canal District!"

"Well, it's a nice place to live but you wouldn't want to visit here."

"Yeah, I can think of other places I'd rather take a vacation."

"So are we through here?"

"Yeah, we're through. Thanks anyway."

"Goodnight, Officer Hopps."

"Goodnight, Ms. Karbor."

As Judy left, she wondered if Eucalypta was in on this. Maybe she was the one who was causing the drownings, since she didn't seem too crazy about tourists either. What if they arrested Ward and it was actually Karbor they should be going after? Well, she'd lull Eucalypta into a false sense of security and see what they could find out from Ward. Maybe he'd blame the waitress, not that that would necessarily be proof. But Calypta did have almost as much opportunity to tamper with the food as the cook did.

Judy was halfway back to the boat when she stopped. Then she texted Nick, _Let's get him!_


	23. Twenty-Third Stop: The G. Pangolin Apartments Again

It didn't quite live up to Nick's fantasies of kicking tail and taking names, busting into an oyster bar to arrest a mild-mannered beaver in a chef's hat and apron. The Cliffside Asylum and the Natural History Museum had been more dramatic settings, with more fiendish-seeming suspects. But it still felt cool to nab Ward along with Judy. McHorn indeed arrived in his helicopter a minute later, but the cook didn't resist arrest. He just said he wasn't going to say anything till he talked to his lawyer. Which was fine with Nick. He did want an explanation at some point, but it had been a long day and he just wanted to get back to his apartment after they booked Ward.

"What about the luggage?" Judy asked.

Nick sighed. "Let's pick it up tomorrow, OK?"

"Sure. Check-out time isn't till 11 a.m. anyway."

"Wait, you stayed in that hotel only a couple hours, while my credit card gets charged for a full day?" McHorn said.

"I told you I'll reimburse you once our expense account is approved."

McHorn shook his head but didn't argue. He just gestured for them to board the helicopter with Ward, who was pawcuffed of course.

It wasn't till they were in flight that Judy said, "We need to return the rowboat, too."

"And the blanket."

McHorn and Ward both looked at them like they were crazy, which made them laugh. Nick couldn't believe it was over, that it was ending like this. There were still some loose ends, like his dad, but they'd done a lot just that day.

"Nice work for your first week, Rookie," Judy teased.

"Thanks, Mentor."

She smiled. She had a very cute smile.

Something occurred to Nick. Her last pill must've worn off by now. It was evening. Yet she seemed completely un-estrused. Had she taken another pill while he was in the hotel bathroom? Maybe she had to overlap them a little. When would this one run out? Would she wake up late at night and have to take another? And Nick would be sleeping on the other side of a very thin wall. Well, it wasn't really any of his business, not any more than it had been a week ago. It was one of the things that happen in the CD, or beyond the CD, that would stay there.

It didn't take long at all to get back to the police station in Downtown and soon Clawhauser was greeting them with "Oh, wow, you guys did it! Congratulations!"

Nick did his best to look humble.

"So does this mean you'll be able to contribute to the present for Francine?"

Nick sighed. "Tomorrow, Clawhauser."

"Oh, yeah, no problem. I'm thinking a gift card but I can't decide where."

"What about Mousey's?" Judy suggested.

"She's kind of scared of mice. I was thinking Targoat."

"Are you gonna jail me or not?" Ward asked impatiently.

"Talk to you later," Clawhauser called after them as they headed over to the holding cell.

"Did you want to call your lawyer before we lock you up?"

"No, I'll do it in the morning. I'm really tired." Ward yawned.

Nick bit his tongue. "Sweet dreams, Buddy."

Then they had to do a bunch of paperwork, just for the arrest and the booking, but finally they could go home.

"Do you want me to call a cab, Nick?" Judy asked.

"Yeah, one more item for the expense account." But he was glad she suggested it. He felt like he couldn't walk much further, his energy draining away from him now.

In the cab he observed, "You're kind of quiet, Fluff."

"Just a lot on my mind."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No, it can wait till morning."

"OK." He wasn't really up to talking about anything serious himself right then.

When they got to their apartment building and went up to their floor, he quietly said, "Well, goodnight, Judy. Thanks for everything."

"You, too." She gave him a hug.

It felt good to hold her. He thought about suggesting they sleep-cuddle but maybe the rules were different now that they were back home. It would take them awhile to know how to act as just friends again.

They went into their apartments. He shut his door and could hear her shutting hers. He undressed and fell into bed. But he couldn't fall asleep right away.

For one thing, they'd never had dinner, although they had gone into a restaurant. He grabbed a can of mixed nuts, wanting something fast and simple. As he munched, he thought about some of the many things on his mind.

First off, there was his dad. If the fox in the photo Russell showed him really was his father, did Nick's mom know his fate? What could or should they tell each other? He knew he had to go see her soon.

And this time he would invite Judy. She was his best friend and she was very kind and supportive. It might be upsetting for her to see his mom like that but she was brave, too, and she would do it for him. He needed her and she needed him to need her.

Did he love her? Yes, yes, he did. And maybe it was a romantic love. Obviously it wasn't platonic. He needed to find out what his feelings were and if she returned them. If not, if he was just a friend, well, a close platonic friend, he could live with that, or at least learn to. It might be for the best, considering all the obstacles in the way of them having a relationship. But if it turned out they were in love with each other, well, they would be brave about that, too.

Now that the case was wrapped up, they could focus on these other things. Nick had just swallowed an almond when he thought that and then he asked himself why the case didn't feel wrapped up. Was it because the missing mammals case had felt wrapped up and they'd had the wrong bad guy, the wrong "Night Howlers"? Judy must've heard enough from Eucalypta to make her think Ward was guilty. She could be impulsive but would she arrest the wrong animal? And Ward hadn't denied it or put the blame on someone else. On the other hand, he hadn't confessed either.

Maybe the case wasn't quite over. Maybe they wouldn't know for sure until after it went to trial. But they'd done all they could for now.

Nick ate a pecan and then put the can back on the shelf. He reminded himself that he'd almost drowned that day and he needed his rest. So he lay down and did his best to blank out his mind.


	24. Twenty-Fourth Stop: ZPD Main Station Again

A moment after Judy's alarm clock went off, she heard Nick grumble through the wall, "Why does morning have to start so early?"

She smiled. It was good to be back home. She leapt out of bed and got her bath pack. OK, she wasn't crazy about this part of home. She had to share the bathroom with everyone on the floor, not just Nick but the Oryx-Antlersons and everyone else. At least she was the earliest riser on the floor so she always got in there first.

She put on her robe and headed down the hallway. She showered quickly and vigorously. She used to sing in the shower, till the Oryx-Antlersons complained. They agreed with Nick that it was unnatural to be this cheerful in the morning.

She suddenly realized that she hadn't been cheerful while on the drowning case. There had been moments of glee and joy but mostly she was worried, about a lot of things. She knew they weren't all neatly resolved now, but she felt like they soon would be.

Nick emerged from his room as she came back to her own. "Hey, Carrots," he croaked. "You want me to fix some oatmeal when I wake up?"

"Oh, thank you but I can make breakfast."

"I think it's better if we eat in my room. So we don't disturb the neighbors."

"Thank you!" yelled Bucky.

"Yeah, it sure was quiet around here last week," shouted Pronk.

"You two shut your yaps!" screeched the old bat across the hall.

And the hyena by the stairs laughed loudly.

"I'm going to take my shower now," Nick quietly told Judy, who nodded.

She went back in her room and brushed her fur. Then she put on her underwear and police uniform. She could hear Nick coming back and puttering around his room. It sounded like he was making breakfast. She heard the beep of the microwave.

"OK, Fluff, you can come over now."

She smiled and grabbed a package of frozen strawberries. They weren't as good as fresh, but she had been away for almost a week, so she didn't have any fresh fruit just then.

Nick grimaced when he answered the door in his bathrobe. "Uh, I've kind of gone off berries for the moment, Fluff."

"Oh, right, sorry." She should've been more sensitive about that. She went back to her room and threw the berries in the freezer. When she returned, Nick had put on his work slacks under the robe.

"So, Whiskers," he said, handing her a bowl of oatmeal with margarine on top, "what's on your mind?"

She sat in his chair, blowing on the hot food while she decided what to say and what not to say. She didn't want to have a big talk about their relationship, not at the beginning of their work day. And she didn't know if he wanted to talk about his father just then. But she realized that they needed to talk about the drowning case, including her doubts about Ward's guilt.

"...I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier."

"It's OK, Judy. I had the feeling that things couldn't be tied up that neatly. Maybe he's guilty, maybe he isn't. Maybe he had an accomplice. But we had to arrest him. He's the likely suspect and we couldn't just keep going in circles all around the CD."

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"We'll just have to see what happens with Ward today, and after."

She nodded. "Right."

"I'm still turning in an expense report."

She laughed. "Good idea."

"You know what's weird, Judy? I mean another thing that's weird."

"What, Nick?"

"You remember when we thought we'd cracked the missing mammals case and you were the heroine of Zootopia?"

She winced. She'd felt proud at first and then it all unraveled. She lost Nick's friendship, she divided the city, she gave up on her dreams.

"No, Fluff," he said gently, "I mean that you had that big press conference. This is as big a case, isn't it, going back years instead of weeks? Why is there no publicity about it apparently being solved?"

She slowly said, "I think it's because of what Chief Bogo said in the beginning, that most animals thought these were unrelated accidents, if they even knew about the drownings at all. When the mammals went missing, every disappearance was big news and it was seen as a pattern. This was different."

Nick nodded. "Yeah. And maybe it happening over such a long period actually makes a difference, instead of one disappearance after another. It's less dramatic."

"Yes."

"Eat your oatmeal before it gets cold," Nick said, taking a spoonful of his.

"Thank you."

...

When they got to work, Clawhauser greeted them and then said, "Chief Bogo wants to see both of you in his office right away."

Nick looked at her as if asking _Is this good or bad?_ She shrugged. They headed to the chief's office. Judy had noticed but hadn't commented on the fact that Nick, unlike his first couple days on the job, was wearing his uniform to work. Maybe he'd gotten tired of street clothes while in the Canal District. Or maybe he felt more like a real cop now. In any case, it meant that they didn't have to stop at the locker room on the way.

"Have a seat," Bogo told them when they arrived.

As always, they climbed up into the same chair. She remembered being called into Bogo's office before, when she'd seemingly bungled the arrest of Weaselton in Little Rodentia. If the chief was angry, it would be good to not face him alone this time. And if he was proud, well, it would be good to share that with Nick, too.

"So, Wilde, you drowned."

"Well, Sir, I guess it was a near drowning. I mean, obviously I'm alive and well, thanks to Officer Hopps."

Judy waited to see if Bogo would show any concern or sympathy. Instead, after pausing a moment, he said, "I ask because I wondered if you wanted to add attempted murder to the charges against Ward."

Nick shrugged. "It seems so minor compared to successful murder."

Judy couldn't believe Nick could joke about this. She blurted out, "Ward might also have killed Nick's father!"

"Yeah, he mentioned that."

"He?"

"Yes, Walter Ward confessed at 3:37 a.m. today, but he said his memory wasn't very good and he didn't really keep track of all of the mammals he drugged over the years."

Judy stared at the chief. "He confessed?"

"And you didn't want to take the time to call us, Sir?"

"I thought you might need your sleep. Besides, my gut is telling me that there's more to this case."

Judy nodded. "That's what we think, too, Sir."

"So now we've got an interesting dilemma. If Ward isn't guilty, whoever is knows that you two were snooping around the Canal District. And you can't really go back. And I can't really send anyone else there. Meanwhile, do we see Ward get sentenced and maybe executed for crimes he may not have committed?"

Judy didn't know what to say. Bogo was right, but she didn't see how this could be resolved, other than maybe by Ward breaking down on the witness stand.

"Does that mean you're not going to approve our expense report?"

"I'd hold off on filing that, Wilde."

"As you say, Sir."

"Chief Bogo?" the anxious voice of Clawhauser came over the intercom.

"Clawhauser, I told you I wasn't to be disturbed."

"I'm sorry, Sir, it's just there's an accountant who's very insistent on having an immediate appointment."

"Well, Wilde, you certainly don't kid around, do you?"

Nick gave an innocent look, although Judy had the feeling that he didn't actually have an accountant on call to prepare the expense report.

Bogo said into the intercom, "Clawhauser, I don't have time for this."

"No, Sir, he wants to see Officer Hopps."

Now Nick grinned.

Bogo threw his top hooves in the air. "Fine. We're through here." He told Clawhauser, "Send the accountant to the bullpen. It should be empty right now."

"Thank you, Sir," Judy said, feeling guilty, even though it wasn't her fault.

She and Nick jumped down from the chair, said goodbye, and left the office. Out in the hallway, they exchanged looks that said they had no idea what this was about.

When they got to the bullpen, she rushed in and gave the accountant a big hug. "Nick, this is my old friend Jaguar." She pronounced it correctly, "Hog-u-are," although the J had given her trouble back at Woodlands Elementary School. He had been in the Carrots Day play with her fifteen years ago, playing the predator that attacked her as prey. He'd said then that he wanted to grow up to be an actuary and look for tax exemptions, but he in fact found a position with the Zootopia Revenue Service, investigating tax evasions.

Judy explained a little of this to Nick, as well as introducing Nick as her partner. She did not mention Jaguar's help when she prepared a simple form to represent Nick's tax evasion weeks ago, but from the expressions on both males' faces as they shook paws, she had the feeling that Nick guessed it, and Jaguar made the connection to the "sly fox I want to do a set-up on."

"Judy, Officer Wilde, the ZRS would like your help on a case."

"Shouldn't you talk to Chief Bogo about this?" She didn't want Bogo to have more reason to be annoyed.

"Well, it's not anything definite I can pinpoint. I'm not even here in an official capacity. But there's a corporation, possibly a dummy corporation. And I can't trace who owns or runs it. All I know is they haven't paid any taxes in over twenty years."

"Maybe they've never shown a profit," Nick said smoothly, as if he hadn't been avoiding filing since adolescence.

"That's what they, whoever they are, claim. But it's a very complex corporation, with lots of subsidiaries and investments, from cruise ships to hotels to restaurants."

The fur stood up on the back of Judy's neck. "What's the name of the corporation?"

"Sealbury."

"Seaberry?" Nick asked.

"No, S-E-A-L-B-U-R-Y. I thought it might be named after a place, but I can't find any town or city, or even any street, with that name."

"Can you email me the information you have?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you, Judy. You, too, Officer Wilde."

"Of course," she said, and Nick said, "No problem."

After he left, she and Nick looked at each other in silence, till she asked, "What should we do next? Should we go back to the Canal District?"

Nick shook his head. "I think it's time for me to take you to meet my mother."


	25. Twenty-Fifth Stop: Harbour Street

Nick got Bogo to give them the next few hours off as "delayed bereavement leave," even though Nick's father died twenty-five years ago, and even though Judy wasn't a relative. The chief seemed to have arrived at some sort of mental state where he was annoyed with them and didn't agree with their methods but he couldn't really argue with success or, in this instance, partial success. Nick couldn't promise that visiting his mother would help them solve the case, but he had the feeling that it might. Even if he was wrong, this was something he had to do, and he had to have his best friend by his side.

Before they left the police station for the Savanna Central train station, Judy asked if they should go home and change into street clothes. He said, "No, I want her to see my uniform." He hoped his mother would be proud of him. He couldn't help still wanting that after all these years.

From Sav Cent, they caught the Pink Line, taking the Zootopia Loop counter-clockwise, with that little western loop off to the side. Harbour Street was only three stops away.

"So Sealbury," Nick said when they got to Elm Street.

"Yes, as in 'seal' plus 'bury.' "

"Do you think that Sealia is running everything in the Canal District? Or maybe somebody in that mysterious, maybe rich, maybe not, family of hers?"

"Maybe. But I looked up 'seaberry' while you were buying the train tickets, and I found out that it has some interesting other names."

"Such as?"

"Amber dawn, as in the time of day that the drownings happened."

"Go on."

"And the scientific name is hippophae."

"As in hippopotamus?"

"As in Magawitz. Except that the 'hippo' part means 'horse,' like a hippopotamus is a river horse. Seaberries in ancient times were fed to horses to give them shiny coats."

"I could see Selkie and Magawitz getting together and thinking that's a clever little name."

She smiled wryly. "Yes, puns are the lowest form of humor."

"They are if they're used to cover up, or one might say bury, murder and corruption."

She stopped smiling. "Yes."

"We're going to need some kind of proof. I don't think we can arrest Selkie and/or Magawitz just on our hunches."

"Right. And they may not be responsible for the drownings. Not directly anyway."

"Yeah, I'm wondering if Ward is a loose cannon or a scapegoat."

"Or a mixed metaphor."

"Yeah. Did he agree to take the fall for them, so we wouldn't pursue this to the top? Or does he just like to bump off tourists for fun?"

"Or neither?"

"Yeah. Maybe he had a grudge against my dad years ago."

"Maybe."

They didn't talk much the rest of the train ride, but they did hold paws. Sometimes she would squeeze his paw and he'd think about putting his arm around her, but he resisted. They were getting funny looks as it was, although that might've had more to do with them being in their uniforms.

They soon arrived at Harbour Street. He knew from his other visits that the hospital was a short walk away.

He let go of her paw but he still imagined its fluffy toughness as he strode down the street.

"You ready, Fluff?" he asked as the automatic doors opened on them.

She nodded. He wondered if she'd ever been to any kind of hospital before. With such a big family, she probably had. But nothing like this.

He went to the reception desk and asked, "Is now a good time to see Vixie Wilde?"

The zebra receptionist looked it up on the computer and then said, "Yes, she should've just woken from her nap and there have been no incidents this week."

"Great."

He noticed Judy's expression as they walked towards the elevator, and he quietly said, "She's not violent. Just, well, delusional sometimes."

"Oh, Nick!"

"Are you sure you can handle this, Carrots?"

"I can if you can."

He didn't point out that he was used to this. He just pressed the button for up.

On the third floor, he led Judy down the hallway. He heard quiet sobbing coming from one room, and a nurse or doctor soothing the patient. This wasn't as frightening a place as it would've been 50 or 100 years ago. It was mostly just sad. He hated to think of Judy being brought down by that. But he knew she was brave and resilient.

"This is it," he said quietly before knocking on his mother's door. "Mom?"

"Nicky, is that you?"

"Yeah, Mom, is it OK if I bring a friend in?"

"Of course, Nicky Sweetheart! I've been waiting for you to bring your friends around."

Nick opened the door and gestured for Judy to go in first.

"Oh, what a cute little rabbit!"

He waited for Judy to object but instead she said, "Thank you, Ma'am."

Nick went in and said, "Mom, this is my partner, Judy Hopps."

"Partner? Oh, Nicky, I've been waiting years for you to have a serious relationship!"

"No, Mom, on the ZPD squad. I'm a cop now."

"Oh, and you're in your uniform. How handsome you look!"

"Thanks, Mom."

"Just like your father. Of course, he didn't have a uniform since he was undercover and working on his own."  


Nick blinked and then exchanged an amazed look with Judy. Then he stepped closer to his mother's hospital bed and asked, "Mom, was Dad some kind of detective?"

"Or a spy. He once went to the South Seas and fought underwater criminals."

"No, Mom, I think that was the movie _Savage Seas_."

"Oh, that's right. Tod didn't like to swim. He knew how but he didn't like getting his furdo wet."

"So he wasn't a surfer?"

She laughed. "Nicky, you come up with the craziest ideas sometimes."

"Yeah, what a nutty imagination I've got."

"Yes, just like your father. So he was hesitant to take the drowning case because it was in the Canal District, and all that water would be bad for his fur. Not as bad as the Rainforest, unless he fell in the water or had to go swimming, but there was still that risk. But he was a very brave fox, like you, Nicky."

"Thanks, Mom. So this was, what, twenty-five years ago?"

"I think so. I remember it was before I bought your Ranger Scout uniform. You were such a proud little cub! I should've known then you'd get a job with a uniform someday, a job where you help other animals." She loudly whispered to Judy, "Nicky sometimes acts like he's just a sly fox, but there's a lot more to him than that."

Judy smiled a little. "I know, Ma'am."

"Call me Vixie. Or is it too soon to call me Mom?"

"Mom, Judy is just—" He couldn't say just a friend. Even if she didn't return his undefined feelings, this was more than a friendship, far beyond any friendship he'd ever had.

"Just what?" his mother asked, with her big green eyes.

"Judy is just going down the hall to get something from the soda machine," Judy said, looking a little amused. "Do you guys want anything?"

"No, I'm on a strict diet," said Nick's mother.

"Nothing for me, Carrots, thanks." He waited till Judy left the room before he said, "Listen, Mom, about Judy—"

"She really is just adorable, Nicky. Quiet but with sweet, intelligent purple eyes, and those long ears that seem like they're just made for listening. You won't be able to have kits of course, but if you adopted I would treat them just like real grandchildren."

"Thanks, Mom, I really appreciate that. But we're taking it slow."

"Like a sloth?"

"Not that slow. Getting back to Dad—"

"He would be sad he never got to see you have a family of your own. But maybe he's watching us from above. Or below. Or sideways."

"Mom, is Dad, well, is he dead?"

She frowned. "He never came home. I waited and waited. I scrimped and saved. He never sent money, never wrote to me. I listened to the news on the TV, and then on the radio when we had to sell the TV. I read the newspapers. I never heard anything. I didn't know what to tell you. You were just a little boy, with big dreams. I thought it was better to say nothing until I knew for sure. Then, I guess it was about five years after he left that I got the pictures in the mail. No name or return address on the envelope. I opened it up, hoping it was from Tod. But the pictures showed Tod's dead body. His face in one, and more pictures all the way down to his feet. You have his feet, Nicky."

Nick heard a sound like a sob being held back. For a moment he thought it was a patient in a neighboring room, but then he turned and saw Judy standing in the doorway. She was holding the can of soda so tight it looked like she might crush it.

"Oh, you got me Bark's Root Beer! Thank you, Sweetie."

"Oh, you're welcome, Mrs.— Vixie." Judy brought the can over and handed it to Nick's mother, who sat up to take it.

"Don't tell the nurse," Nick's mom said conspiratorially.

"Mum's the word," Nick said, making her giggle, although this pun was unintentional.

He watched his mother gulp down some of the soda and listened to her burp, then laugh like a little kid. Then she set the can down, half empty, and say, "Could you recycle that for me, Darling? I don't think I can finish it and I need to take another nap now."

"Of course, Vixie," Judy said gently, taking the can back.

Nick's mother lay her head down on the pillow and shut her eyes. She looked like both a little girl and a very old lady, although she was in her 50s.

"We should go," Nick whispered to Judy, who nodded.

In the hallway, she took his paw again, and he didn't care if anyone noticed.


	26. Twenty-Sixth Stop: Harbour Street Continued

When they got off the elevator, Judy let go of Nick's paw and went over to the reception desk. "Excuse me, is there a doctor who's free to examine my friend?"

"Carrots, what are you doing?"

"Nick, you almost drowned yesterday."

"I told you, I'm fine."

"I still think it would be a good idea to have you checked out."

He sighed. "OK."

The receptionist meanwhile was looking things up on her computer. "I'm sorry, but there's no doctor available right now. How long has it been since the drowning incident?"

"Well, maybe 24 hours since he ingested the food that may've caused it, and he fell into the water about three hours after that."

The receptionist looked up at Nick. "Sir, have you eaten and slept all right since then?"

"Yeah. Well, just some mixed nuts last night, and oatmeal this morning. And I slept fine."

"And I see by your uniform that you've gone to work today."

"Well, yeah."

"So this isn't exactly an emergency? More of a routine check-up?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I suggest you consult your personal physician."

"Thanks," Nick said gruffly, and Judy had the feeling he didn't have one. He probably hadn't had medical coverage in years, and he'd only been at the ZPD for a week.

Then she noticed the receptionist's name-badge: Debra Zebra, R.N. "Excuse me, you're a registered nurse, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"Could you examine him?"

The nurse hesitated and then said, "My shift ends in half an hour, if you don't mind waiting till then."

"No problem."

As they stepped away from the desk, Nick grumbled, "Great, we're stuck here reading old magazines for 30 minutes, when we should be solving a case."

"Come on, Nick. Let's stroll around the grounds."

"Until you feel at home?"

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Simian and Sambarfunkel? 'Mrs. Rabbitson'?"

"Oh, right, of course."

They did go outside and the grounds were lovely. The flowers were in bloom and she could see the harbor on the other side of the tall gate. The water seemed tamer here in the south, but maybe it was because they were at a protected distance.

"So, listen, Fluff, about what my mom said—"

She blushed a little. "Nick, it's OK. She's your mom and she wants you to find someone."

He looked embarrassed, too. "No, I meant the stuff about my dad being a detective."

"Oh, right." Then she laughed. "I don't think he was in _Savage Seas_."

"No, they made that movie fifty years ago. Besides, it was about a rabbit."

"That's right." She remembered, Jack Savage. Her uncle was a big fan. Not the uncle who had gone savage from Night Howlers. That uncle had been sent to a hospital, probably a more secure hospital than this one, although she'd never visited. She remembered now, hearing her mother mention him when she was little, an uncle Judy had never met. She'd never made the connection before.

"I think the stuff about him being a detective and investigating the first drownings in the case might be true."

She nodded. "The photos she described." She shuddered. "They sound like the ones that Walter Russell was going to show us but we just saw the head."

"Sick basset," Nick swore, and she couldn't blame him.

"Nick, this may sound crazy but...."

"Go ahead, Fluff."

"It's like everyone, or almost everyone anyway, that we talked to in the CD is in on this."

He nodded. "Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing. Like, either my mom doesn't remember my dad being a surfer, or Russell straight up lied to us about how my dad died.

She nodded. "And did he die twenty-five years ago and they waited five years to tell your mother, or was it twenty years ago? Or is he not even dead and they just faked the photos somehow?"

"I'm not sure there was the photographic technology back then to make my dad's face look dead."

She shuddered again, but he was right. "So what do we do next?"

"You mean after my check-up?"

"I'm sorry, Nick, but I just want to make sure you're really OK."

"It's all right, Fluff. It's good to know you care."

She did, a lot. She wasn't sure how much, or how much she could tell him. She just quietly said, "I do care."

"Thank you. As for the plan of action, you still need to hear back from Jaguar, right?"

She glanced at her phone, no messages of any kind. "Yes."

"There may be enough in the Sealbury file that, combined with the other evidence, we can get a search warrant. I don't know if we can arrest Magawitz or Selkie, or whoever the CD's Mr. Big is, today, but I think we're getting closer."

She nodded. "We'll see what else we can find out."

"Meanwhile," he said, taking her arm, "let's stroll around the grounds."

"Koo-koo-ka-zoo," she sang, and he laughed.

...

While Judy waited for Nick to return from the examining room, she flipped through the old magazines. It was hard to concentrate and even _Haylights_ felt challenging.

Then she got an email from Jaguar. She eagerly opened it and saw that the Sealbury file had been sent as an attachment. She skimmed through it, checking back and forth with the message itself to see how an accountant interpreted it. She could see that the corporation had investments not just in the companies that Jaguar had mentioned but also things like casinos and strip clubs. Was it possible that not only everyone but everyplace in the CD was under the thumb of Magawitz and/or Selkie?

And the thing was, this all seemed to be legal, the business side of it anyway, obviously not the drowning part. It was possible that they'd diversified so much that they'd never made a profit, but then how were they able to keep going? This seemed like something Nick could figure out, since he was the one with the good business sense, including how to be sneaky without technically breaking the law.

She thought of how Jaguar had helped her trap Nick with the tax form. It would take more than that to take down, well, whoever they were taking down. Was it possible that there was someone else that the Canal and water animals were answering to?

Suddenly she thought of the waiter at the Seal Rock Café saying, "Everyone knows Dolly." It was sort of the mirror image of Nick saying he knew everyone. But Nick had friends. No one actually admitted to being friends with Dolly. She was always a friend of a friend, someone that they didn't know well. And she had definitely lied to Judy and Nick. That didn't necessarily mean she was running the CD, especially if she couldn't easily get around on land, but was it possible that Magawitz and others were working for her?

When Nick came back, she wanted to know what he thought of all this, but of course she first asked, "What did the nurse say?"

"Fluff, you're not going to believe this!"

"Nick, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm great. Come on, I'll tell you on the way to the train station."

She followed him through the automatic doors. "Nick?"

"OK, so we were making conversation while she was examining me and I happened to mention our little stroll around the grounds."

"Nick!"

"Hold on, Carrots. So it turns out she's interested in botany. So I told her the tree surgeon joke."

"Nick, what—?"

"You know, the one about falling out of a patient. Flash loves that one. She does, too. And then she tells me—"

"Nick, I've got something important to share about the case, and you're telling me about exchanging jokes with the nurse?"

"Patience, Fluff. Then she tells me that seaberries are not dangerous in themselves. And chokecherries, despite the name, are fine for most animals, except those with segmented stomachs."

"Like bulls and cows?"

"Yeah, and like goat gondoliers."

"Why would Billy Capri order a chokecherry pie?"

"He probably didn't. But Ward may've mixed some toxic-to-goats chokecherries in with the seaberries. Not a lot, since the taste is very bitter."

"But, Nick, you're not a ruminant!"

"Yeah, I don't have the stomach for it."

"Ni-ick!"

"Whiskers, you really need to let someone tell a story at their own pace."

She stopped walking and crossed her arms. "Fine, Nick. Proceed."

He turned and looked at her. "Now, seaberries on the other hand are tart but citrusy, although they're not technically a citrus fruit."

"Go on."

"You know what else seems to be a citrus fruit but isn't?"

"Lime build-up?"

"Clever, but no. Trifoliate oranges, which are very bitter and inedible."

"Are they toxic?"

"No, but they taste so bad that they can induce vomiting."

"Oh. But you didn't vomit."

"There may've been some other little goodies mixed in. Debra Zebra said that it's the combination of ingredients, and the amounts, that makes the difference."

"So he was trying to outright kill Billy Capri, but only make you throw up?"

"Or faint or otherwise lose control while rowing, although of course he couldn't be sure of the timing. My guess is that there may've been some animals he tried to bump off and it didn't work, so we just don't know about the unsuccessful drownings."

"Right. So you think Ward is guilty then?"

"Yes, although that's not to say he wasn't working for someone else. After all— Judy, why are you looking so smug?"

"Come on, Red-Tail, we've got a train to catch!"


	27. Twenty-Seventh Stop:  Somewhere in the Canal District

"OK, Finn, we're throwing you in the tank!"

Officer Vaquita was with the Porpoise Police Squad. It turned out that Bogo had neglected to tell them that he had an officer working on the underwater side of the case, and she was the one who had sent in the report by email during the Gazelle concert. He'd needed Nick and Judy to investigate on land. Once they reported their latest findings to Bogo, about trifoliate oranges and all, he sent Vaquita after the dolphin that everyone in the CD and the sea claimed to sort of know. Not that Magawitz and Selkie were off the hook of course.

It had been an interesting ride in the big police cruiser driven by Trunkaby. Judy hadn't realized till then that Francine hadn't gone on leave yet and had just thought that Clawhauser was collecting for a maternity gift to be nice.

"You'll be at my party on Friday, Judy? And Nick?"

"We wouldn't miss it for anything."

"You bet," he added.

McHorn was also in the cruiser. Since they were arresting a hippo, the Chief had wanted to send two of his biggest and most intimidating officers. And Nick and Judy of course couldn't be left out. Nick was glad to be there to witness the conclusion of this crazy, confusing case. Not that it was all neatly tied in a bow. But with the presumed ringleaders in jail, along with their henchbeaver, hopefully other animals would testify against them. In any case, he and Judy had done just about all they could do for now.

As Nick and Judy shook Vaquita's flippers before she swam off back to her seaside police station, McHorn reached into the back of the car and set Judy's little three-wheel joke-mobile on the ground. Nick and Judy had a few errands to run in the Canal District and they didn't want to rely on the trains to get back home. They could've taken their own police cruiser, but Nick got a kick out of the idea of driving around the Canal District at two miles an hour. And Judy humored him.

Trunkaby carried the small tank containing a bored-looking Dolly Finn over and into the back of the big car, while McHorn escorted Magawitz and Selkie into the middle seat. Meanwhile, Nick strapped the rowboat to the roof of Judy's little car, while she neatly folded the ratty blanket they'd rented and set it on the front (and only) seat.

Magawitz said, "I hope you realize that this is not going to be good for tourism," while Sealia was quietly singing, "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down."

Once the suspects were secured and McHorn and Trunkaby were in the front seat of the big car, the rhino said, "Wilde, Hopps, don't forget you need to check out of that hotel on Bougainvillea Boulevard. It's after eleven and I'm already being charged an extra day."

Nick grinned. "Hey, that's right. We never really got much out of that reservation."

"Are you two sure you'll be back by Friday?" the elephant teased.

Judy blushed and Nick said, "We'll try."

McHorn shook his head and then he and Francine waved goodbye.

Judy waited till after they drove off before she said, "Nick, we really need to talk."

"What's on your mind, Carrots?"

"Nick, I hate to say this, but I think I've fallen in love with you."

"I forgive you. I've made the same grievous error."

"What should we do about it?"

"Well, there is the Bougainvillea Boulevard Inn awaiting us. And they've got color TV. And running water."

"And a bed."

"Well, two beds. Which is good in case we break the first one."

"Ni-ick!"

He leaned forward and kissed her cute little nose. "Come on, Fluff, we've got a rowboat and a ratty old blanket to return before we get charged an extra day on those, too."

...

Even though it was afternoon, they separately changed into their pajamas. His were blue & white striped, while hers had (big surprise) carrots all over them. He grinned when she came out of the bathroom.

"Sorry to say it, Fluff, but you really are cute as heck."

"Thank you. You're pretty cute yourself, Triangle-Ears."

"I like 'Red-Tail' better, Cotton-Tail."

She blushed a little. "Yes, well."

"All right. Get in here." It was what he'd said when she'd tearfully apologized to him and he, usually much less demonstrative than she was (not surprising given their childhoods), had lightly hugged her as she cried and laughed against his chest, against his heart. (Unfortunately she also stood on his tail.) This time he meant "get in the bed and cuddle me." She understood and that was exactly what she did. This time his hug was far from light.

"Nick, I'm nervous."

"About the mating or about what it means?"

"Both."

"Yeah. I am, too. When does your pill wear off?"

"Around 3. I had to get up at 3 a.m. because I took the one yesterday at 3 p.m."

"Why didn't I hear your alarm go off that early?"

"I didn't set it. This wasn't exactly something, well, something I could sleep through when it wore off."

"Ah. Still, it looks like we've got some time to talk things out."

"Right. Nick, I've never been in love before, not even close. I hardly even got crushes. So I don't know if that's what this is. But you have become the most important animal in my life, even more than my family. You drive me crazy sometimes but I wouldn't give that up for anything. And I hated when I lost your friendship."

"I know you love me," he said, partly teasingly and partly sincerely.

"Yes. And I thought it might be just friendship but it's physical, too."

"Well, I am a pleasure machine."

"Nick, come on."

"You think I'm cute, Fluff?"

"I think you're—" Her voice dropped to a whisper in his ear. "Very sexy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Your voice and your eyes and your smile."

"What about my body?"

He could feel the heat of her blushing cheek against his face as she whispered, "I wasn't raised to find canines sexy. But you look good without a shirt."

"Hey, I told you not to ogle me!"

"Nick."

"It's OK, Cotton-Tail," he said, lightly stroking that part of her, making her shiver. "I think you are incredibly sexy. Your big purple eyes and your slight overbite, and these Hopps hips." His other paw lightly caressed one of her hips.

"Nick, I'm starting to have feelings, physical feelings, even with Heat Off going."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Not full estrus of course, but nice little tingles."

"Good." He kissed her on the lips and she kissed back. He introduced his tongue and she eagerly received it, soon wrapping her own around his. For a long while they quench-kissed, but then he had to stop because he was starting to get an erection. "OK, Fluff, let's cool it down a little."

She smiled a little and said, "Should we go back to talking?"

"Yeah."

"So how do you feel about me?"

"Come on, you know I love you."

"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."

"But you'd like a little more detail?"

"Indulge me."

"OK. So besides being cute and sexy, I think you're clever and brave. And loyal and trustworthy."

"You make me sound like a Ranger Scout."

"They're not cute and sexy. Well, I was."

"No doubt."

"Well, cute anyway. I had to grow into sexy."

She looked down at his crotch. "Mm hm."

"You naughty bunny!"

"Loyal and trustworthy and naughty."

"Right. I suppose I should also mention that in the event that we go through with physical mating, I am fully prepared for emotional and eventually legal mating as well. Because there isn't anyone I can imagine that I would want to spend the rest of my life with the way I want to spend it with you."

"Nick, is that a proposal?"

"Technically, no. Think of it as asking you to go steady."

"I can't wait to take you to Popsy's Soda Shoppe." He wasn't sure if she was kidding. Then she definitely looked serious as she said, "Uh, Nick, about the physical side of mating."

"You're worried about sexual compatibility, aren't you?"

"Well, um, you are taller than I am. So if it's proportional...."

He'd never before had to convince a female that his penis wasn't too large. "I'm not exactly an elephant. Or even a horse."

"OK, but still. I mean, this will be my first time."

"Mine, too. For that."

"So what'll we do if we aren't compatible?"

He sighed. "I'd still like to have some kind of romantic relationship with you. And we can obviously do other things physically."

She nodded. "Right. And I would like to try mating, but if it hurts...."

"Fluff, I told you, I would never deliberately hurt you. If it's painful or even too uncomfortable, say something and we'll stop right away. I love you and I want you to enjoy being with me."

"Oh, Nick!" She kissed him and it soon drifted back to quench style. This time she stopped it, saying, "But what about having kits?"

"Whiskers, I can assure you that I will not get you pregnant, especially not from kissing."

"I mean that you said you wanted a family someday." 

He sighed. "Yeah, I do. But I'd rather be childless with you than have kits with someone I couldn't love like this."

"Oh, Nick."

"Besides, my mother pointed out we could adopt."

"She's right. It would be nice to give a home to some child who needed us. But not right away."

"No, we can wait years for that. Let's figure out who we are to each other, and establish our careers."

She smiled. "We're off to a good start with both."

"Yeah." He kissed her. This time neither pulled away and he felt himself become completely hard. He hoped he could soon be inside her, but if it wasn't meant to be, well, he was used to living a life of lowered expectations.

"Mmm, Nick," she murmured as they shifted over to necking, "I can feel you against my leg, how hard you are."

"You like that, Whiskers?"

"I'm still nervous but also flattered. And curious."

"You want that inside you, Darlin'?"

"I think so. When the estrus kicks in, I probably will really want it."

"Yeah. Maybe we should talk about positions while you're still somewhat rational."

"Positions? Don't you just get behind me?"

"Yeah, that's the traditional style. But I think it'd work best if you sit on top of me."

"We can do that?"

"We can do anything we want. This is Zootopia."

She laughed. "Right."

"That way you can control the depth, the angle, and the speed. If it's not working for you, we can make adjustments or just stop."

"You make it sound like it's so easy to stop."

"No, not easy but it is possible. I've heard."

"OK. Nick, can I see your, um, your penis?"

"You want to hold it, too?"

"Yes, please."

"You got it, Fluff," he said, and guided her paw into his pajama bottoms.


	28. Twenty-Eighth Stop: Somewhere New

His penis was very warm. That was the first thing she noticed. The next was that it wasn't as big as she feared, although certainly not tiny.

"Mmm, Fluff, that feels goooood."

She touched it lightly at first, getting used to it. She thought of his past girlfriends, probably females with more experience, touching him like this. She didn't have a technique, only curiosity and affection. But that seemed enough for him.

"Can you grip it?"

"That won't hurt you?"

"Not unless you squeeze me like you're trying to hurt me."

"OK." She carefully wrapped her paw around the shaft.

"Oh, Fluff Darlin', that's really good!"

"Nick, I don't know what I'm doing."

"You're doing fine." He kissed her cheek.

"Will you come from this?"

He chuckled. "Probably not. I would need you to slide your paw up and down along the shaft."

"Like this?" She tried it.

"Fluffflufffluff!"

"Too much?" She slowed down.

He shrugged. "If I come now, I'll last longer during the mating. Or that's what I've heard anyway."

"OK. Nick, can you take off your pajamas so I can see you better?"

"Sure, but you have to let go first."

She did and he undressed completely. He lay on his back with his paws behind his head. She noticed that he was mostly red and orange, with brown on his paws and the tips of his tail and ears. But the front, from his chin down to his navel, was the same creamy color as the insides of his ears. She thought about how most animals didn't get to see this side of Nick, just like she was the one of the few who'd ever seen his emotional vulnerability.

"You like?"

She smiled and nodded.

"It's not so scary, is it?"

She realized he meant his penis specifically. Her eyes now focused on that, its color, its shape, and the way it pointed upward as if trying to reach her.

"I would sit on top of you?"

"Yeah, your legs around my hips."

"Can I see what that would feel like? I mean with my pajamas on."

"Climb aboard for the Wilde Express."

"Toot-toot!" she said and then giggled.

He grinned and held his arms out for her. She sat up and then carefully mounted him. Even though she wasn't in estrus at the moment, she liked feeling his hard warmth between her legs.

"Mmm, Fluff Baby!"

"That is really nice."

"Yeah. Can you lie down on me so I can hold you with your legs around me?"

"OK." She did, resting her head against his heart, which was beating a little fast. He wrapped his arms around her, one caressing her back and the other teasing her tail. It felt playful and intimate. She hoped their mating would be like this. Then she felt him thrust against the crotch of her pajamas. "Nick!"

"Sorry, Fluff, you want me to stop?"

"No, it feels good. You just surprised me."

"Yeah, he surprised me a little, too. But he knows that there is a very sexy female in the vicinity."

She blushed against his heart. "Will it be like this, when we mate?"

"A little. I'll be inside you of course, but the positions will be similar. Which do you like better, sitting up or lying down?"

"I'm not sure. I like them both but it may feel different when I'm naked."

"Mmmm!" He thrust again, rubbing against the cloth of her pajamas.

"Have you done this with a girlfriend before?"

"No, too close to mating. I've done it where we both had clothes on."

"Oh."

"This is better. Especially since it's you."

"Oh, Nick!" She kissed his chest.

"Fluff, would you mind if I came like this?"

"No, I'd like it. And it would be a good preview."

"Yeah. You can move, too, if you want. That might help."

"OK."

She did shift around a little but without estrus she felt much more inhibited. Mostly she let him rock her from below, the paw that had been teasing her tail now cupping one of her buttocks. She listened to his heartbeat speed up.

She thought he'd be done in a minute or two. Her mother had told her that was how long males lasted. "Did you come?" she asked.

He chuckled. "No, Carrots," he said, still thrusting against her.

"Oh, I guess it takes a little longer with clothes on."

He whispered into her ear, "You're thinking of male rabbits. Male foxes are different."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Finnick told me that for us, it's about 15 or 20 minutes."

"Wow!" That was ten times what she would've gotten with her hypothetical bunny husband.

"Mm hm."

"Wait, Finnick isn't a virgin?"

"He's a widower."

"Oh, how sad!"

"Yeah, it is, but can we talk about that another time?"

"Sorry."

He kept thrusting and after awhile, maybe her body was responding to his movements, or maybe it was three o'clock, but her tingles got more intense and she could feel estrus starting.

"Mmm, Nick!"

"She's waking up, isn't she?"

"Uh huh." She now sat up so that she could feel his thrusts against different parts of her crotch.

"Let's get you undressed, too." He started unbuttoning her pajama top and then he caressed her breasts with one paw, back and forth, while the other paw caressed both cheeks of her bottom.

"Nicknicknick!"

"You're not going to need much more foreplay, are you, Darlin'?"

"I don't think so." Then she gasped as a wave of heat ran through her entire body, from toes to ears.

"Sweetheart, raise your tail a little."

"OK."

She did and he teasingly eased down not only her pajama bottoms but her briefs-style panties, till they were at her feet.

"Mmm, you are so pretty and fluffy, Fluff."

"Thank you!"

He moved one paw between her legs, teasing her swelling clitoris before gently caressing her widening labia.

"Nick!" she gasped.

"Can you bring those perky tits over to my snout? I want some Muzzletime."

She blushed but hovered her chest over his mouth. His paw kept playing between her legs as he sucked each of her breasts in turn. Her whole body was crying out for mating and, pleasurable as this was, she felt like she would explode from waiting. She groaned in frustration.

"Patience, Whiskers," Nick said, stripping her pajamas completely off her. Then he picked her up with both paws and set her down so that they were crotch to crotch.

He wasn't inside her but he started thrusting carefully against her clitoris. It felt amazing! She thrusted back and moaned his name as she came.

"Mmm, Sweet Judy. You want to hold him in your paw again?"

"Uh huh." She grabbed his penis, less gently this time, but neither it nor Nick seemed to mind.

"Claiming your mate?"

"Yes!" she cried and then, as if following some ancient script, this most modern of females followed her instincts with a male that tradition said was taboo to her, even as a friend, taking him in a mating position that was nothing like what her mother had told her of in The Talk a dozen years before. Her paw moved Nick's penis to the entrance of her vagina and then she writhed so that he penetrated her. And he fit, he fit perfectly! "Oh, Nick!"

"Sweet, sexy Judy." He gave her a cautious, affectionate little thrust.

"More!"

"You want more, Baby?" This time his thrust was teasing, a little deeper and then all the way out.

"Nick, come back!"

"Come and get me. Or get me and come."

So she grabbed him again, this time her vagina clenching around his penis. And then it unclenched. She started mating with him at rabbit-speed. If he moved, it felt like a sloth in comparison. He grinned up at her with wide green eyes. Then he half-shut his eyes and started to yip. She laughed and kept going.


	29. Last Stop: Home

When he entered her, it felt like coming home. And he hadn't really had a home in twenty years. He'd had places to live, but nowhere that surrounded him, warmed him, like this. And it wasn't just her vagina but also her heart and her smile.

It occurred to him that everything they were raised to believe meant that what they were doing was wrong. And even for a rebel, that was tough to get through. But to paraphrase Panther Ingram, if loving her was wrong, Nick didn't want to be right.

He wanted to make sweet, slow love to her. But she was a bunny and when her bunni-ness kicked in, she mated the heck out of him. Not that he wasn't doing his share, but he couldn't keep up with her. So he just lay back and let her descend on and around him again and again, at lightning speed.

After a couple minutes, she stopped. "You're still hard?" she asked in amazement.

"Uh huh," he said and then thrust into her, in and out, slow and then fast, again and again. She gasped and moaned, shifting herself to change the angle, clenching and unclenching him. And then she rested on him and he whispered in her ear, "It's a good thing it's not reversed."

"Huh?"

"A female fox would be awfully disappointed in a male bunny."

"Well, male bunnies can do it several times a day, my mother told me."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to settle for two or three good, long matings a day."

"I'll settle, I'll settle!"

He laughed and then cupped her butt. To his surprise, she reached under him and stroked his tail the wrong way, up towards his butt.

"FLUFF!" He started yipping again and she gave a high-pitched scream. He would've worried he was hurting her, but then she tenderly kissed his chest. It took them a minute to realize that they'd just had a simultaneous orgasm, and then they laughed, still holding each other.

"That couldn't have been 15 or 20 minutes," she teased.

"Next time."

She scooted up his body so that she could kiss him on the mouth. Then she asked, "Nick, do you feel any different?"

"Yeah, I'm exhausted. Don't forget I almost drowned yesterday."

"I mean emotionally."

"I'm not sure. One thing though, I can see why they call it tying."

"Who calls what tying?"

"Foxes."

"Oh, there's a 'them' now?"

"Judy. I mean that the way foxes used to be and sometimes still are, although it's changed some as we evolved, is that the penis wouldn't actually get erect until it was inside the vagina."

"But how would the male penetrate her?"

"There's a bone."

"Uh huh."

"No, really, even when it's not erect. It's called a baculum. So he could enter her and then get hard. I've heard that it's still that way for some male foxes sometimes, although I seem to have no problem getting hard outside of you."

She blushed a little. "What did you mean about tying?"

"Oh, so the male holds the female tight from behind, with his front paws around her stomach, thrusting deep into her."

"Mmmm."

"You want to try that position sometime, Fluff?"

"Well, it is more traditional," she said, trying to look demure.

"Uh huh. Anyway, the male swells up inside her and then she sort of traps him. Kind of like when you were clenching me but more intense."

"I don't think I could do that. I'm not built like a fox."

"But you are a little vixen."

"Nick!"

"Anyway, they call it tying. Or knotting. It's supposed to be very intense emotionally, too, and I can see why it would lead to pair-bonding. But what we have seems to be some sort of very nice blend of the two mating styles."

"Mm hm." She kissed him again.

"And whether or not we tie the knot, I am very much looking forward to exploring this."

She looked at him. "Nick?"

"Still not a proposal. But if you want to tell your folks that we're pre-engaged, I won't object."

"Oh, Nick, what am I going to tell them?"

" 'Mom, Dad, first of all, Nicky isn't a girl.' "

She giggled. "Um, yeah."

"The real question is, what are we going to tell Chief Bogo?"

"Do you think he'll try to split us up? I mean as partners on the force."

"He might. We'll have to be discreet."

"Yeah, no yipping when we make out in the backseat of our cruiser."

He tickled her for that and they wrestled a little, but this time she pinned him, which meant she was on top again. He was OK with that. And she had a point about him being noisy, although she wasn't exactly silent herself. He wondered how they would manage back at the apartment building, where even if they tried to be quiet, his bed would probably squeak like crazy. If the Antler Boys were already complaining about the noise just from talking, what would they say if Nick and Judy started mating on a regular basis?

She looked serious again and said, "A lot of animals are going to have a problem with us as a couple, aren't they?"

"Yeah, probably. But we're already pioneers, aren't we, as fox cop and bunny cop?"

She nodded. "True. I just can't help wondering what happens next."

"I'll tell you what happens next." Then he whispered in her ear how he would like to pass the time until they had to check out the next morning, including some very special quarter-hours.

"Mmm, Nick, could we try—?"

Before she could make some naughty suggestions of her own, her phone rang.

"Do you have to answer that?"'

"Well...." She let it go to a message and then a beep.

He sighed. "Go ahead and check it."

"Sorry, Sweetie," she said, for the first time calling him by a bona fide endearment. He liked it. She climbed off him, reached for her phone, played the message, and then grimaced. "Um, that was Chief Bogo. He said to get our tails back downtown ASAP."

"We need to head home, don't we?" He meant leave the Canal District, although he had the feeling that not everything that had happened to them would stay behind as just memories. Some places you carry with you.

"Well, yeah. But we should probably get dressed first."

"And shower."

"Yes." She smiled. "It would probably save time to shower together, wouldn't it?"

"No, but I don't think that's an argument against it." He sat up and stumbled out of bed, dizzy in a different way than he was before he almost drowned.

Then Judy leaped onto his back but he managed not to fall over. He carried her into the bathroom piggyback style. Five minutes later, as the faucet rained down on them, she said, "I love you, Slick Nick."

"I love you, Judy the Cutie."

**AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER**

...until the next adventure.


End file.
